Sonic Haven
by InTheGame Kiah
Summary: (A re-imagining based off of the SatAm cartoon and the Archie comic books) When everything you know is gone, when everyone you know is something they're not, when the world crumbles around you, when a madman holds your life in the palms of his hands, when you're trapped in a city overrun with terror, what do you do? You fight back, and you make yourself a haven!
1. S1 - E01: Foreshadowing

****Sonic Haven Season 1 - Episode 1****

 _ _"Foreshadowing"__

He stepped out of his small car and onto the grass only to hear it crunch underfoot, as it was still early spring and the ground had yet to thaw completely. The air was brisk, yet refreshing, as it passed across his face. He felt a shiver run up his spine, realizing that he had underdressed for the chilly weather. Shaking off the cold, he walked across the green and brown lawn and up to a one-story concrete building with no windows and only a single door, his laboratory. Upon reaching the red pine door, he clenched his fist and knocked firmly three times, then waited for his colleague to answer.

As he waited, he took note of the early morning sky. It was only Seven O'clock, yet the sun had already started to come over the horizon, creating a mix of light blue and bright yellow that drifted through the clouds. It was rather odd that the sun was rising this early at this time of year, but he paid it no further mind. He returned his attention to the large gray building in front of him and continued waiting for the door to open and for his assistant to pop out of the oversized concrete rectangle.

After a moment more, he heard the brass handle of the door start to turn. It was his fellow scientist Charles the Hedgehog. "Hello Julian, how are you today?"

Julian scoffed. "I'll be much better when this is over, now come on, we have work to do!" He shouldered past Charles and strode down the hallway with long, purposeful strides that made his red shirt and black pants crinkle at the waist.

Occasionally Charles would wonder why Julian had started to act this way; it seemed strange. He used to be such a peaceful fellow, bent only on helping the disenfranchised around them. Now he was testy to say the least and seemed to lose his temper at even the slightest of hiccups. Nevertheless, Julian was a hard worker and a valuable partner, even if he was a little aggressive sometimes. In the end, it always seemed, Julian was more than happy to help Charles in all their projects.

As he stepped back inside, Charles couldn't help but wonder if a few more windows would lift his colleague's mood, as the lack of them made the lab's environment quite stale and dingy. He simply shrugged and shut the door before racing down the hall to catch up to Julian, who would probably start to work without him if he sauntered.

And so their day of work in the lab began...

After heading inside and downstairs to the room that housed their latest prototype, Julian grabbed a white oversized lab coat from the nearby tan double-door locker and put it on over his typical red and black attire. Not long after that, he was typing away on the keyboard, working on the complex mathematical formula for their latest invention. He pressed a few keys and watched as a man-sized crane lowered a backpack shaped device to a test dummy and secure itself to the mannequin just below the base of the neck. It whirred and shifted, stretching itself out and covering the dummy, a slight red glow coming from its seams as it did so. Soon, the device had completely covered its plastic host before letting out a soft, low pitched that indicated it was working as intended.

"Success! A brilliant success!" Julian exclaimed.

Charles nodded in approval. "So it would seem."

Just then, the red light came back and began glowing brighter and brighter until the lab was engulfed in its glow.

Charles felt himself slip from confidence into cautious unease. "Julian, perhaps we were too hasty in considering this a success." He said with a shaky voice.

"You're overreacting Charles." Julian said with a dismissive wave of his right hand. "It's just a power surge, it will pass."

A few moments later, it began humming again, but not a soft hum. Rather, it was loud, obnoxious, and high pitched. The two covered their ears as if to protect themselves from the device's screech.

Charles yelled at Julian. "Get down!"

The two of them took cover behind their oak desks just before the device exploded, taking the mannequin with it and causing extensive burn damage throughout the lab.

When they lifted their heads out from their shelters and looked into the center of the smoky lab, all that was left was a few pieces of melted plastic and broken shards of metal from the prototype device.

Julian pounded his fist on the desk in frustration, breaking his keyboard and sending it flying to the side in the process. "Auugh! Not again... We were so close this time! I could practically taste it." He yelled in frustration.

Charles was startled at his partner's sudden outburst. "Relax Julian, we will get it done, and we will get it done right!" He said reassuringly.

Julian sighed, then rubbed his forehead. "You know Charles, I'm beginning to think that we should have taken the grant that G.U.N. offered us. Then we wouldn't be pressed for time or resources."

"You know all too well what they would've done with the project if we took those funds." Charles said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yes, I know, they would've weaponized it somehow. But looking at it now, is that such a bad thing?" Julian asked.

Charles put a hand on Julian's shoulder. "Get a hold of yourself old friend. You know that we cannot conduct research for the benefit of all Mobians, knowing that innocent lives will be lost because of it. Why build something to protect that will be used to destroy? It doesn't make sense, and you of all people should know that!" Charles let his voice grow increasingly intense to make his point. He looked at Julian and watched his face fall. Julian of all people should know, having had first-hand experience with the Guardian Units of Nations, the military force in this part of the world.

He used to conduct research for G.U.N., building weapons and defenses for them. In fact, he was one of their lead scientists. However, after seeing one of his weapons in action and watching in horror as the victims of the device had their lives ruined, he withdrew from the military in an attempt to appease his conscience.

Shortly after leaving the military, Julian began researching a mobile, body-tight protective suit, that would aid the paraplegic in walking again. It could've also protected individuals, potentially saving lives if given enough time to perfect the design. However, After experiencing minor success, the press got wind of the project and immediately stuck their noses right where they didn't belong. The pressure mounted as interviews were made, and footage of early prototypes was taken and posted online. Soon, Charles and Julian had fallen on hard times and the funding from both of them had run as dry as the Dusty Desert of Soleanna.

This is when the military had stepped in. They offered both scientists significant funding grants if they agreed to let the military use the device for themselves. Having worked with the military before, Julian quickly said no and dismissed the idea. However, recent setbacks had halted all progress on the device. The last step to complete was to hook up the brain interface so that the machine could be controlled by the brain of the occupant itself. The setup for the brain interface was a mess, but that wasn't the biggest obstacle that they faced. The brain, being the most powerful computation machine known to any Mobian, would quickly overload the device with too much information, causing the device to overheat and subsequently self-destruct. Now, with seemingly all options exhausted, Julian questioned his conscience's objection to the military and wondered if sending them away was really a good idea. He was also beginning to wonder what effect this device would have on society, potentially breeding an atmosphere of apathy and laziness. That's not what he wanted.

This device was supposed to usher in a new wave of society where no one was to be left out of work or other activities. Those unable to contribute to infrastructure and culture could now do so with the help of this machine. Not only that, but jobs once deemed too dangerous for any Mobian to do would be totally safe. The amount of progress that could come about from this device was incredible! But, if the military got their hands on it, society would never see its benefits. Instead, they would keep it for themselves, only using it to do more harm.

"You're right Charles, I couldn't let that happen." Julian said, nearly muttering under his breath.

He heaved a sigh and looked at the pile of scorched parts that was laying in the middle of the lab. Walking over to it, he took a knee and examined what was left of the device.

"We're going to need more power to the R.C.S. If this is going to work." He said, referring to the Random Computation Stabilizer that kept idle thought from interrupting the signals to the suit. He took a breath before finishing his thought. "We need a Chaos Emerald."

"I told you that those things are myths; we can't rely on a myth to give us what we need." Charles replied.

Julian stood up and took off his lab coat as he thought about the road ahead. "Maybe so, but what choice do we have? Nothing on Mobius can give us the amount of power we need for the R.C.S. except a Chaos Emerald."

Charles heaved a sigh. "Well, if the myths are true, you know that there's only one person who can help us find the Chaos Emeralds... That quack nephew of yours William."

"Then that's who I'm going to see." Julian said as he walked from the lab.

Charles only shook his head as he watched Julian leave. With options running out for them, the next month was sure to be a hectic one.

* * *

Central City University was a very well known school smack dab in the center of the capital of the United Federation, a country that surrounded the significantly smaller Acorn Kingdom that Julian called home. It was a large school, several buildings all planted in what seemed like a lazy pattern around the center which housed a fountain dedicated to... someone. Julian couldn't bring himself to care about who it was.

All around him students of various ages all moved about the grounds, chatting about whatever it was that kids chatted about these days. Yet again, he didn't care. He was here for one reason.

Ahead of him was a large building made out of precisely cut white stones. It was roughly three stories tall and had a large bell tower on top of it, though the bell hadn't been used in years. A large staircase wove its way up the front of the building to the dark wooden double doors. The staircase was not straight, but curved right and left as it rose, something the designers of it claimed inspired creativity and outside-the-box thinking in students.

Julian walked up to the university, a look of determination on his face. It had been several months since he'd last seen his nephew William, but that didn't matter now. He walked inside and down several long whitewashed halls until he reached his nephew's office. The door was brown and quite old, but had been well maintained, and was recently stained to look like new. The sign on the door read "Prof. William H. Snively." Julian hesitated as he reached for the doorknob, knowing that, once inside, there was no going back, as his nephew would inevitably drag him down some kind of rabbit hole.

He opened the door slowly and deliberately. His nephew, who was sitting inside and dressed in his usual black shirt and green suit, watched the door eek its way open. He soon saw his uncle on the other side. As Julian walked inside, William watched, and the two of them stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before William finally said from behind his small, dark brown metal desk: "You never called." His long nose and oversized sinuses made his voice sound nasal and disinterested, but that was hardly the case.

"Well, the last time we met wasn't exactly a warm, friendly conversation, now was it?" Julian replied.

William frowned and leaned forward on his desk, resting his weight on his bony elbows. "You told me you would call when you had something. Instead, I find out more by reading blog posts than talking to you."

"Listen Snively! I told you that I would call you when I had something, not that I would call you when we'd built a dysfunctional prototype!" Julian exclaimed.

Snively bristled, making all five or so hairs still left on his head stand on end. "I told you not to call me that! Why do you insist on using my last name?"

"The name suits you more so than William." Julian replied in a cool yet somehow mocking tone.

"Personally, I think you do it more to irk me than anything..." Snively muttered. He cleared his throat and leaned back away from his desk, reclining in his chair once more before he continued: "With that out of the way, why are you here anyway?"

Juilian cut right to the chase. "I'm here to talk to you about the Chaos Emeralds."

Snively raised a nonexistent eyebrow"You mean the reason you mock my very existence? What about them?" He asked sarcastically.

Julian leaned over the desk, almost as if he were trying to intimidate his nephew. "I need to find one if I am going to continue my research. You wouldn't happen to know where one is, would you?"

"Well, if that isn't a change of heart I don't know what is." Snively replied. "Yes, I do know where you might find one. But there's a catch."

"What's that?" Julian asked.

"According to myth, the Chaos Emeralds were sealed into a sub-dimension parallel to our own; a dimension only accessible by a Warp Ring." Snively tried to explain.

"And just what is a Warp Ring exactly?" Julian asked.

"Something the ancient Echidna tribes did to protect the power of the Chaos Emeralds from evil forces." Snively said as he grabbed his coat and walked towards the door. "I'll explain the rest to you on our way to the Emerald Hills.

As Julian turned to let him pass, he asked: "Is there really one that close?"

"It could quite possibly be there, but no one knows. The last documented use of Chaos Emeralds was in the Echidna tribes of several thousand years ago. With no way to prove that the Emeralds actually exist, they've been deemed myths. The Echidna tribes resided in the woodlands next to the Emerald Hills, so, more than likely, there's a Chaos Emerald there somewhere in the old ruins." Snively explained.

Julian turned to follow his nephew. "Very well, lead the way Snively."


	2. S1 - E02: Chaos Bringer

****Sonic Haven: Ssn. 1 – Ep. 2****

 _ _"Chaos Bringer"__

That afternoon Julian and Snively took a plane to the Emerald Hills, a small, isolated place with rolling meadows and a few trees that broke up the landscape. They got off the plane and looked around, taking in the clean, refreshing air around them. Looking off into the distance, Snively noticed a forest to the west. If he wasn't mistaken, that's where they would find the old Echidna temple he'd read about many times before.

"There's no time to waste. The woods are this way." Snively said as he pointed in the direction they needed to go.

The two started to move toward the trees at a rather brisk pace. As they started walking, Julian said: "I hope you're right about this."

"If I'm not, I've been nothing but a dupe for my entire professional teaching career and you'll have to give up on your life's work. I'd better be right for both of our sakes!" Snively retorted.

They walked for several hours, hiking through the woods and around a small lake that set in a grassy valley within of the trees. After several hours they reached some partially buried ruins that lay in the heart of the forest. The broken walls and dilapidated structures seemed to be thousands of years old, with vines growing up the walls and small trees that had broken through the roofs of some old stone buildings. The earth that they were made out of was cracked and weathered to the point where you almost couldn't make out the carvings on the side of them. A large temple resided in the center of this once lively village, standing out among all the rubble as the one building that was still very intact, though it was as weathered as all the rest.

Being the expert in this tribe's history, Snively started to explain why the temple was in such comparatively good condition. "The builder's took great care when they designed this temple, trying to make it so strong that, according to legend 'it could withstand the storm of near perfection to come upon us all when the seven stones collide with the beast.'"

Julian looked skeptical. "Sounds like a lot of ancient nonsense."

The two of them walked inside and took in the dusty surroundings. There were several small rooms that sat on either side of a central corridor. The stone bricks in the floor had cracked and worn down over the years, and the ceiling had given way to the upper floors in various places. Still, it was in much better condition than the rubble that sat around it.

After walking a ways down the long hall, Julian said: "Alright, we're in this mysterious temple you've been babbling about. Now find us the Chaos Emerald."

"I'll find it, just stop whining!" Snively exclaimed.

They walked deeper into the ruins, occasionally stopping to ensure that there were no traps or obstacles in their way before they continued. Hours went by. Both of them became tired and were sweating profusely. Finally, they reached the innermost part of the temple, a room labeled: "The Sanctum of Seven Stones." They walked to the middle of the chamber and looked around at the walls, ceiling, and floor, which were covered with various murals. There were no further passages inside.

"There's nothing here Snively!" Julian exclaimed in frustration.

"I can see that, just give me a moment!" Snively fired back.

Snively looked around again before he spotted something on the wall, some ancient text that was missing some of its letters due to age, but was still legible.

"This appears to be an ancient riddle, I'll see if I can decipher it." he said.

"How long will this take?" Julian asked.

Even at just a glance, Snively could tell that the language was one that he already knew. The translation was a breeze. He smirked. "It's already done."

"Well, what is it?" Julian asked, becoming increasingly frustrated.

Snively sighed and gave Julian the translation. "Only those with a heart full of courage may reach the stone of endless power."

It certainly was an interesting one. Julain thought about the riddle for a moment, trying to decipher each piece of it. He walked over to a mural on the wall and looked at it for a moment. The mural was one of a lion and an echidna in a fierce battle, the lion holding the advantage. Julian pressed in the lion's chest and the wall shook, dust and debris flying from it as it began to move.

"How did you know the solution to the riddle? What does it have to do with a lion?" Snively asked.

"In some cultures, the lion is used as a symbol of courage. You should know that." Julian stated.

"I did, I guess I just hadn't made the connection yet." Snively said.

"Let's just get the Chaos Emerald and leave." Julian said anxiously.

They walked into another room. It was dark and the floor seemed to end only a few feet in front of them, a long stone bridge appeared to be their only passage to the other side of the chasm. On the other side of the expanse lied the Warp Ring, its gold surface shining oh so brilliantly even though it was rather dark in the room. It was floating over a pedestal in the middle of a raised platform. They walked over to the ring carefully, trying not to trigger any possible traps on the way.

"Be careful Julian, you can't be sure that you won't activate some kind of mechanism." Snively said, his voice shaking slightly.

"Relax Snively, You've seen too many movies!" Julian said, almost dismissing the notion.

Julian climbed onto the pedestal and jumped inside the Warp Ring. He was gone for only a handful of minutes before he re-emerged holding a large purple stone; a Chaos Emerald.

"There. You see? No traps. You can breathe now Snively." Julian said sarcastically.

"Alright, then let's go Julian. This place, though it doesn't have traps, is very unsettling!" Snively said, his voice still shaking.

"Hey, You two!" A voice yelled from behind them.

Julian and Snively turned to see a red echidna with tribal markings pointing at the two of them. He had a moon shaped mark on his chest, white stripes on his quills, and spikes on his knuckles.

"Put the Chaos Emerald back and leave!" The echidna barked at them. "If you don't, I'll make sure you regret it!" He flexed the muscles in his right arm to help make his point.

"Ok, ok," Julian said backing away slowly, "Just give me a second."

Just then Julian grabbed a small sphere from his pocket and threw it on the ground next to the echidna. He caught the stranger off guard and the chrome object exploded as it landed next to him, creating a cloud of dark blue gas that permeated the air near the echidna. They could hear him coughing inside the cloud, stumbling about as he did so. Then the gas began to clear. But as it did, it crystallized itself, thus sealing the echidna in ice.

"There, problem averted." Julian said, walking towards the frozen statue.

"Are you insane? You just killed one of the ancient echidnas!" Snively exclaimed.

"Don't be ridiculous Snively!" Julian replied. "He is merely frozen. He'll thaw in a day or two."

Just then, the ice began to crack and shift, and the echidna inside began to move.

"I don't believe it!" Julian exclaimed, "That composition should be able to withstand more than a ton of applied force!"

"I think now would be a good time to run!" Snively said, turning towards the exit.

"Indeed." Julian said uneasily. _ _What creature could possess such strength?__ He wondered to himself.

Finally, the echidna broke free and turned to chase them and retrieve the emerald. The three of them ran out of the temple hastily, Julian and Snively leading the way as they jumped over fallen debris and ducked under collapsed ceilings.

They eventually made it outside, Julian and Snively only seconds ahead of the hostile echidna. The two of them split up and the echidna decided to follow Julian since he had the emerald. He chased him around corners, up a staircase, and onto a former roof that was only about a story high.

Julian backed up to the edge of the stone rooftop and looked over to see what lay below, then turned back to face the echidna.

"Alright, I'll give you one last chance; give me the emerald!" The echidna threatened.

"I'm afraid you'll have to come and take it from me!" Julian retorted.

"Have it your way!' the echidna said as he rushed in.

At that moment, Julian sidestepped the echidna and slugged him in the back of the head. The echidna stumbled and fell over the edge of the roof and onto the muddy ground below. When he finally got up from the ground only moments later both Julain and Snively had escaped.

"How could I let this happen? I have failed." The echidna lamented.

He walked away with a sour spirit, wondering what might happen now that a chaos emerald was in the hands of a stranger. Little did he know, it would be far worse than he could have ever imagined!


	3. S1 - E03: Fall From Grace

****Sonic Haven  
****

 ** **Season 1 - Episode 3****

 _"Fall From Grace"_

Three months. Three months of work in a lab, all without success. Things were getting more than a little tense between Charles and Julian, and they certainly were not getting better! Charles had been telling his family about how he was concerned for his former friend and how he thought that Julian might be slowly losing his patience...

"Sonic, are you still in there?" Tails asked, a questioning look on his face. He was a yellow-orange fox dressed in white gloves and red shoes with white toes. He also had two white-tipped tails from which he'd gotten his name.

He was speaking to his best friend, a blue hedgehog with six long quills on the back of his head that all hung down slightly. He was also wearing white gloves and red shoes with a white stripe tracing from near the toe around the back of his heel and back down to the toe on the other side; a yellow stripe coming from the sole under the ankle bone up to meet the white one. "Huh, yeah, yeah. I'm good. Why, are you concerned?" Sonic replied sarcastically. He always liked to tease Tails in a brotherly kind of way.

"Nah, it's not that. You've just been spaced out a lot lately." Tails said with notable concern.

"Hey, don't worry about me buddy. It's just some stuff that Chuck was talkin' about yesterday. It got me thinkin'. That's all." Sonic assured his friend.

"Ok, just try not to space out too much, you don't want to miss work again." Tails said, half joking.

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Same as always." Sonic said. Though to be honest, he wasn't sure everything would be alright.

He was thinking of his uncle Charles, or Chuck, as Sonic called him. According to him, Julian had been acting increasingly out of character, the stress of their lab project consuming him, until there was nothing left but an aggressive scientist, a shell of his former, calmer self. Charles had even stated that, if this level of stress were to continue, Julian may even become emotionally unstable. All things considered, Sonic was pretty sure being a mad scientist was not a good thing. But he couldn't dwell on that. It was only speculations and worst-case scenarios. In the end, they'd look back on all of this and laugh about how silly they were for thinking such things. Seriously? Mad scientist? Sounds more like a fictitious tale than cold hard reality. But, maybe, he thought, the reality is cold and hard. Cold, hard, and scary. Because, for whatever reason, no matter how ridiculous these things seemed, he couldn't shake the feeling that deep down he was right!

Sonic shook his head, attempting to shake the horrifying thoughts from it. A good run would clear his mind, he was sure.

"I'll see ya later Tails, I've got stuff to do." Sonic said before running off.

Tails waved at his best friend as he ran away. Sonic slowly accelerated until Tails felt a boom knock the wind out of him; a sonic boom that is. And as Sonic raced away from his friend, that horrible thought, the thought that he was right about everything, scared him more than he could describe.

* * *

Julian nearly cursed as yet another failure threw a plume of black smoke in his face. He coughed and threw his keyboard across the room, breaking it against the wall.

"No way, I can't believe this!" Julian exclaimed, blood vessels on his face bulging under the stress.

"Julian, you need to calm down! We can figure this out. Just be patient." Charles said shakily, scared of what response he might get this time.

"No Charles! None of that this time! My reputation and career are on the line here! I can't fail! I won't fail again! I'll run the calculations again and... and..." his voice trailed off as a calmer look came over him.

Charles softened his guard a little. "...And?" He asked, wondering what thought had just hit Julian. Was it a breakthrough? Could all of their troubles be over?

Julian stayed silent for a moment, weighing his idea in his own mind before spitting it out. "What if we just skip the brain interface entirely? The suits couldn't be used for protection, but they could be used to move those who wore them. They'd just have to be controlled remotely. Actually, it would be very easy to control the suits using some kind of radio frequency. Then, we could give the suits to those who were disabled or comatose. We could even potentially put them to work, I suppose..." Julian said coldly.

"Have you gone mad! Julian, that's a horrible idea! You're talking about turning crippled individuals into mindless slave labor! It's not civil!" Charles exclaimed, trying to sway his colleague's opinion.

"It's not as bad as you think Charles! This device could save lives, or at the very least make useless lives useful again! So what if they can't act for themselves? As of right now they're all almost worthless to this society. I'm talking about an untapped workforce that could be used even while the occupants of the suits were sleeping. Their minds would be unaltered, and their bodies would still be alive and cared for inside the suit, even powering the suit by drawing energy from the body heat. Think of the things that we could accomplish with a workforce that never rests." He paused, letting it sink in. Then he turned to his colleague and looked him right in the eye. He pointed with a fierceness that made Charles take a step back. "I don't see what the problem is Charles. I think you might be the one that's going mad! Besides, we need to put out something or we're both finished! I'm going to run the tests whether you like it or not!" Julian said, his voice becoming increasingly tense as he spoke, even straining towards the end.

"I can't allow this Julian! This is insane! Think about the people you'd put inside those suits! What about them? Paralyzed or not, they're still people!" Charles said in reply, losing hope in what was once a friend.

Julian puffed his chest out in an emotionally drenched rage that seemed to raise the temperature of the room to solar levels! He screamed at his partner. "You think I care about them! Those worthless people! I'm going to make them better! I'm... Gah!" His rant was cut short as the blood vessels in his eyes burst under the stress, turning his eyes an eerie reddish-black.

"Julian?..." Charles shook his head, not able to believe what had just happened. "This is insane! I'm going to get the police!" He sprinted out of the lab.

"Come back here you rodent! I'll skin you alive!" Julian yelled through clenched teeth. He chased him for only a few moments before backing off and heading into the lab once more. He had other, more pressing concerns at the time. So rather than murdering his former partner, he began to plan his next move.

* * *

(Two hours later...)

"...and be careful officers, I'm almost certain he's lost his sanity." Charles said, calling out to the officers who were about to enter the lab.

"Don't worry, we can handle your disgruntled colleague." The Chief said as he opened the door.

As it drifted open, a creaking noise coming from its under-maintained hinges, everyone was shocked at what they saw. The lab, apart from a few remaining chairs, desks, and scattered papers, was completely empty!

"This can't be good..." Charles said softly to himself. Wondering just where Julian might have gone. Then he remembered. "He has a home; in the mountains. He must have gone there." He told the chief.

"Alright boys, we're heading out to the mountains. Nikolas won't know what hit 'em." The chief said, a commanding tone in his voice.

"Yes Chief." The officers with him replied as they headed out to the squad cars.

"Come on Charles, we'll need your directions. You can ride with me." The chief said to Charles.

"Ok then. Let's go, before it's too late." Charles said as he headed up the stairs and out of the lab. How far would Julian go to complete this project? Could he be saved from his apparent madness? Charles wasn't sure, but, like it or not, his one-time friend was becoming a criminal!

* * *

After an hour of travel, the officers finally arrived at a cabin, just outside of Mobitropolis. It was moderately sized, made out of large oak logs stained a dark brown, with a couple small windows in the front, and a wooden door in the middle, shut and locked. The officers approached the door carefully, and, after approaching the door, the chief knocked firmly 3 times.

"Julian Nikolas," He bellowed, "this is the police, come out slowly with your hands up!"

He waited for several seconds... there was no response.

"Dr. Nikolas," the chief continued, "Come out with your hands up immediately, this is your final warning!"

Again, no response.

"Ok boys..." The chief said to those around him.

Several officers grabbed a battering ram and started towards the door. With a hefty swing, the battering ram hit the door, and the door shattered. Pieces of wood and nails went flying through the air, as even part of the wall had been ripped off with the door due to the sheer force exerted.

As the dust and wood chips settled, they noticed Julian hurrying out the back of the cabin. "Freeze!" The chief yelled as the officers ran after Julian.

Julian hurried through the bushes and trees, getting several cuts on his arms and torso. He came to a fallen tree and ran across the log and over several other trees that had been crushed by the log's weight. He fell to the ground on the other side of the log and rolled to one knee. Looking ahead, he saw a dense part of the forest in front of him, and, if he hurried, he may just be able to lose them.

He ran into the thicket and attempted to climb a tree. He climbed up the height of two stories and lay in wait for his pursuers to pass underneath of him. Only moments passed before the officers hustled along below him, and, to his delight, passed right on by. Julian heaved a sigh, and when he did so, he felt the branch underneath him give just a little. Just then, he heard a loud snap, and he fell from the tree. He attempted to reach out and grab a branch, but when he did so, his arm snapped. Despite this, he was slowed considerably. Still, Julian hit the ground with a thud. He didn't get hurt from the impact with the ground, but, in reaching for the branch, his arm had been broken.

As the officers moved in on him, Julian began contemplating the future, more specifically, his future.


	4. Season 1 - Episode 4: The Prisoner

**Sonic Haven: Ssn. 1 – Ep. 4**

He walked through the wooden double doors in front of him. The gentle chinkling of the restraints on his wrists and ankles echoed off of the high cream-colored limestone ceiling. He sat down at the large wooden table in the front of the room and waited for the King to speak. He took a glance at the crowd that had gathered to hear the case. He knew quite a few of them, all of them seeming concerned or confused. He wondered if they would understand; could he show them his point of view?

After only a short while, things were not looking good, then again, why would they be? He'd pleaded guilty to all charges, a shock to everyone but him. He had convinced himself more and more that what he'd told Charles was right, all he had to do was show enough other people that he was right, and they would simply drop this pointless case. Nevertheless, the case went on, all that was left was to do was decide his sentence. He waited quietly in the room as people hummed their many words off the walls. Things would occasionally get riled up in the courtroom, and the guards would have to settle the crowd down, occasionally escorting an individual from the room.

This pattern continued until there was a notable outburst from someone in the crowd.

"Settle down sir." The guard said, putting a hand on the middle-aged hedgehog's shoulder.

Julian turned to look at him. The hedgehog was about average height, and his spikes were considerably shorter than average. He wore a yellow T-shirt and brand new denim jeans cuffed at the ankles. He also wore glasses with a black metal frame. The hedgehog turned to look at the police officer who was working as a guard. The officer was about thirty percent taller and at least that much heavier than the slender hedgehog. However, the hedgehog would not be subdued.

"No, I won't settle down!" He said, shaking the officer's grip loose. "Not for him! He's a monster for even thinking about robiticizing those innocent people! If people like 'Robot Nick' over here are allowed to go unchecked, we'll end up with nothing but monsters left where society once was!"

The officer latched onto his arm like a vise and began dragging him out of the room. As he was forced out, Julian turned and looked at him out of the corner of his black/red eyes. He spoke in a low, cool, and methodical tone that was very different from his usually expressive demeanor.

"What I proposed would be of benefit to everyone. If you think roboticization is a bad thing, that's your problem. You call me 'Robot Nick'. Though you mean it as a curse, from henceforth I shall wear it as a badge of honor, and a symbol of all that I believe, rather than as you wished it." Julian said.

"You're a monster!" The man exclaimed as he was being dragged out of the room.

"No, sir, I am enlightened; and if none of you can see that, then you leave me no choice..." Julian said unnervingly calm.

* * *

"It's been 3 months since the conviction of Julian Nikolas," the news reporter started, "The same man would later come to be known as Robotnik, a shortened form of the demeaning nickname another man gave him. Having been convicted for his crimes, sentenced to life in prison with no parole, and diagnosed clinically insane, he is now being transported to a maximum security facility due to rising concern from the public."

"Good grief, it's been 3 months and the media just won't shut up about it!" Sonic stated, an irritated tone in his voice.

"What do you expect Sonic?" Tails replied, "It's not that often that we hear about a real mad scientist."

"Yeah, I know. I just kinda feel like it's time we all move forward." Sonic said passingly.

"Sonic, not everyone moves at your pace." Tails said sarcastically.

"Well it's not my fault none of you can keep up!" Sonic said, replying with sarcasm of his own.

Tails let out a sigh. "Why did you want me to come over again?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

"I was gonna head into Mobitropolis for the day and I thought that you might wanna come with me." He said, the question unsaid, but obvious.

"I suppose I don't have anything to do today anyway..." he admitted. Sonic had a bad habit of dragging him everywhere he went. To be honest, Tails didn't really mind all that much, but, sometimes he wished that Sonic would go on his own. After all, trying to keep up with Sonic is a tiring activity.

After a short while, the two left for Mobitropolis. Sonic ran along the road while Tails flew overhead. Sonic glanced around at the scenery warping in his vision due to the speed. He was sure that he could make out the Mobitropolis skyline ahead, it shouldn't be long now. Tails, of course was behind him, flying as fast as he could to try to keep up with Sonic. Those were the only interesting sights, it was mostly just flat grasslands around them in all directions, save for the town they came from and the metropolis they were headed to.

On their way to Mobitropolis, they also, coincidentally, passed by the prison transport that was transferring Robotnik to the maximum security prison in Mobitropolis.

Aboard the transport, Robotnik sat silent, an evil smile held upon his lips, with restraints upon his wrists and ankles, wearing the yellowish jumpsuit from his former prison complex.

"I wonder what he's so happy about?" One of the guards said.

"Dunno, he's been silent all day." The other replied.

"You fools don't know what is about to happen." Robotnik said suddenly, yet in a low, coolly collected voice. "With the events that will soon unfold, I will forever change history. A new, unstoppable, perfect society will be born. And I will bring it about."

"You must be mad. You may not have noticed, but you're in a prison transport vehicle with two heavily armed guards and restrained so tight that even breathing must be painful for you. If that's how your new society is gonna look, you're not gonna get anyone to follow you. I'm just saying." The first guard replied.

Julian again just smiled. He looked at the guard and said: "You have no idea what a literally tireless workforce can accomplish in just three months..."

As if on cue, the road in front of them became covered in an ominous shadow. This was not the kind that would typically be produced by a cloud; it couldn't be, it was moving far too much.

The guards felt the armored car shake suddenly and violently as they were ripped off the ground and into the air. The two guards screamed frantically, as the ground raced away from them at breakneck speed!

Meanwhile, the shadow had caught up with Sonic and Tails, who likewise noticed the ominous feeling of it and turned to see what was happening. Slowly, they turned to see a triangular shaped mechanical behemoth floating in the sky, and a lanky mechanical arm gripping tightly onto the armored transport that they'd just passed. They stared at the scene in shock for what felt like an eternity, before Sonic finally said: "Tails, head to Mobitropolis and warn the people, I'll see if I can get the guards out of the armored car."

"Sonic, are you insane!" Tails said before his face became filled with shock. The mechanical monstrosity was in the process of hurling the vehicle.

As it flew through the air Sonic dashed towards it at full speed, a sonic boom erupting as he did so. He was moving so fast that time almost literally slowed down for him. He rushed towards it, rolling into a spin and jumping into the passenger side window. He used his razor sharp quills to cut the seat belts off of the guards, freeing them from their seats before being abruptly spat out the drivers side window due to his speed. He quickly skid to a stop and dashed back towards the vehicle, which had nearly collided with the ground. As Sonic jumped into the driver's side window again, the front end of the vehicle was already being crushed due to the impact with the ground. He had but a fraction of a second before the transfer of motion hit the drivers. Sonic grabbed both of them. Unable to jerk them out the other side due to the damage that would be done by rapid acceleration, he turned towards the windshield, and bust through it transferring their speed from diagonally down and forward, to forward along the ground. It was tight, but he made it, performing the rescue maneuver in just under a second in real-time.

The drivers were sick to their stomachs by the time Sonic had stopped to let them off. They may have survived the experience, but Sonic's jostling them was still rigorously hard on their bodies.

Sonic turned to look at Tails, who was left speechless from what he'd just seen. Sonic broke the short silence. "Robotnik wasn't in there." He said.

Tails frowned at him. "Robotnik was being transported by that vehicle, wasn't he? Unless, that wasn't a random attack, but a rescue attempt." He said, thinking out loud. Actually, he thought, a rescue attempt made more sense.

"We still need to warn the people in the city!" Tails said, realizing that the flying ship was, indeed, headed for Mobitropolis.

"Alright, let's go!" Sonic said as he dashed off at lightning speed towards the city. This was sure to be an interesting day.

"What took you so long Snively?" Robotnik asked pointedly.

"You told me to wait for the perfect time, so I did." Snively replied. "Thankfully your instructions to move the equipment to our backup location were quite well timed, I got the equipment out just before the police got there."

"Of course, since the police had no idea of your involvement, when they got me, they thought it was over. Little did they know, that was my plan all along." Robotnik muttered to himself.

"I still can't believe that you talked me into all this..." Snively said, shaking his head as he did so.

"Don't worry about it Snively. Now, onwards to the city, we have a new society to usher in." Robotnik said, his pride showing through in his voice.

"Yes sir... and you'll help me find the other Chaos Emeralds as promised?" Snively said in reply, his apprehension abundantly clear.

"Of course Snively, as promised..." Robotnik said in reply, the words rumbling out in a low, cool tone.

Slowly, their flying fortress lumbered towards the city. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Robotnik saw a blue colored streak heading towards the city ahead of him. He quickly brushed the quiet thoughts from his mind and refocused. With his victory right around the corner, now was not the time to be distracted.


	5. Season 1 - Episode 5: Seeds of War

**Sonic Haven: Ssn. 1 – Ep. 5**

Sonic ran full speed into the city, his sneakers squeaking on the concrete as it took him a good hundred or more feet to stop his momentum. He quickly looked around for somebody, anybody, that he could tell. Robotnik was coming, and he was coming like a bulldozer to steamroll any and all competition. Once a noble scientist, now focused purely on results at all cost, if that Behemoth was any indication, he was intent on total conquest, if only to prove his point.

Sonic gasped for air, out of breath from the run, when he heard a mild whooshing sound from behind him. It was his best friend Tails, who had been coming in hot right on Sonic's heels. The two of them quickly looked at each other and gave a silent nod of understanding.

Sonic ran full speed toward the Acorn Palace situated squarely in the middle of the city. He ran through wall-to-wall traffic, strafing left and right as he quickly stepped through the congestion and made his way to the other side. Sonic ran faster and faster, ripping leaves off of trees and uprooting bushes as he ran past in full stride.

Remembering that the bridge ahead was not yet finished, he noticed that traffic suddenly seemed to vanish. He quickened his pace even more, only a split second between him and the one-mile gap where the bridge was supposed to be. He felt a hard thump in his chest, knowing that he'd just broken the sound barrier, and that was all that it took.

Sonic jumped as high and as far as he could. He felt the wind rushing past his face as he jumped and seemed to float gracefully through the air. He inhaled sharply when he noticed in shock that he would not, in fact, make the jump! Thinking on his feet so to speak, Sonic transferred his forward velocity into a spin, the aerodynamics of the motion carrying him upwards several feet, but effectively killing his forward motion. Then, with a sharp jolt that surged through him, he threw himself forward in a mid-air dashing maneuver, killing his upwards movement, but giving him just enough distance to clear the gap.

Rolling violently along the ground when he landed, Sonic tucked into a tight ball-shaped form and waited for the spinning to stop. His entire body ached from the unnatural feat that he'd just accomplished.

"I guess at this rate it would've been faster to take Highland Street... Heh heh." Sonic muttered to himself as he wound up for another burst of speed. There was no time to waste, and his banter wasn't going to get him there any faster. Eh, besides, what's the fun in making a witty remark when nobody's around to hear it but him? That was just kinda his thing; whether it helped or not, it was just him.

Sonic continued dashing towards the palace at full force, moving past anything in his path. It was just ahead, no stopping him now!

* * *

As Sonic dashed away in a supersonic sprint, Tails turned around and watched in horror as the Behemoth inched ever closer to the city of Mobitropolis. He heard a rumbling noise coming from beside him and turned to look.

A Mobian Defense Tank was Lumbering toward him, smoke writhing from its exhaust as its driver pushed it to its limit. The iconic acorn on its side blurred by a nasty combination of dust and grease, it was obvious that these tanks hadn't been used in a long time.

Tails turned back, noticing in horror that the Behemoth that seemed to be a good distance away only moments ago was now hovering over his head like some sort of twisted eclipse. Tails stood there motionless, hoping with all his might that the Defense Force had enough power to stop Robotnik before things got carried away.

He looked back up towards the Behemoth and noticed small metallic objects falling from its underside. The objects got larger and larger, before crashing into the ground with a loud thud. He looked at it, wondering what was inside. Each one was a metal sphere, not much larger than he was, with a seam running all the way around its middle. Then, with a surprising hiss, the sphere opened slowly, revealing what was truly inside.

A robotic figure stepped out of the sphere, glowing red eyes scanning the environment. The robot was unlike anything that Tails had seen before, it looked almost Mobian. Then the thought struck him like a freight train: Robotnik was researching a Roboticizing Suit, which meant that there was probably someone inside! The nearby tank turned to face the roboticized individual. "Wait!" He shouted as loud as he could, stepping between the tank and the robotic person. "There's someone inside that suit! If you shoot, you'll kill them!"

The driver paused for a moment, seemingly considering Tails' objection, before turning the muzzle of the tank away from the roboticized person. When Tails saw that he had, indeed, gotten through to the driver, he sighed in relief. A sigh that was cut short. The robotic person behind him grabbed ahold of him by the back of his neck, lifting him off of the ground, and throwing him across the street, causing him to roll into the side of a dumpster.

Lifting his head as pain surged through him, Tails looked over at the person now marching toward the tank. Instinctively, the driver backed off, but it wasn't enough. Tails watched in horror as the robotic mobian walked toward the tank, closer and closer, before leaping on top, cracking open the top of the tank with its bare hands, and jumping inside. He heard a commotion but was unsure of what exactly was going on. A few moments later, the metal-suited person leaped out of the top of the tank and walked away.

Tails ran over to the tank, jumping on top, and leaning precariously over the edge, not entirely sure of what he was about to see inside. Two individuals were inside, one was in the driver's seat, the other beside him to operate the artillery. There was no doubt in Tails' mind when he saw the scene in front of him; the artillery operator was sitting limp in his chair, his neck twisted in an odd fashion, obviously broken; he was dead. It was more than Tails could handle, a sickening feeling running through his veins and nearly causing him to vomit.

The man next to him seemed to have been stabbed, but, looking closely, Tails noticed that he was still breathing! Examining the stab wound, he noticed that the aim of the robot had been a little off, missing the heart and lungs, striking a little low. It was still bad, and the man was unconscious, but he was alive! He had to get him out of here, somehow...

Tails jerked a little in surprise as the top of the tank seemed to be ripped off of the base, exposing them to the world. Thankfully, to his relief, it wasn't another robot, or Robotnik, or something like that; instead, Tails saw an echidna standing over him, holding the top of the tank in one hand, the other extended towards him.

"Hey, you okay?" The echidna asked him, his eyes studying their surroundings.

"I'm fine, but this guy is badly hurt, we need to help him!" Tails said in response.

"There's no time!" The echidna exclaimed.

"I don't care! I can't leave him here! You can either help me or leave me here to fend for myself, either way, I'm staying until he's safe!" Tails replied sternly.

The echidna opened his mouth to reply but merely shook his head. "Alright... Alright."

"Help me get him free." Tails said, turning back towards the man stuck in the driver's seat.

The echidna tossed the top of the tank to the side, out into the middle of the street. Then, he reached down, and with a remarkable amount of ease, ripped the seat off of its metal frame, holding it and the driver up with just one hand. This, too, would've been a remarkable feat, if the same echidna had not done the same with half of the tank just a moment ago.

"Let's go," the echidna said, turning towards Tails as he began walking away, "We can't stick around here, we'll be sitting ducks."

"Right..." Tails replied. With robotic individuals running around and a madman attempting a hostile takeover, one thing was clear, Tails would need all the help he could get if he wanted to survive!


	6. Season 1 - Episode 6: Kings and Queens

**Sonic Haven: Ssn. 1 – Ep. 6**

There it was, a beautiful palace more than five hundred years old. It was a pristine white color, made out of stone cut from a nearby mountain. A huge building more than six hundred feet wide and nearly as long, and three stories tall. Windows were evenly spaced up and down all four walls to allow plenty of natural light to grace its interior. On top of the palace was a large dome overlaid with gold. It truly was a remarkable sight, and few people got to see it this close.

That didn't stop Sonic as he dashed in through the front door of the Acorn Palace, knocking all of the royal security guards over as he did so. He ran as fast as the tight hallway permitted, coming to a sliding stop in front of the throne room door. He collected himself quickly, then burst through the door and into the throne room.

The room was large and mostly a soft red in color with some blue highlights and trim. Drapes were a deep red color with a blue fringe. A large red and yellow carpet ran to the other end of the room and up to the throne. Sitting at the other end of the room was a man who was slightly taller than he was. Sonic recognized him from press footage he'd seen on the news, even though he'd never seen him in person. He was wearing a blue overcoat and a small crown, a mustache across his confused face, it was King Maximillian Acorn.

The woman sitting next to him also wore a mostly blue outfit, though the chest was orange, and also wore her red hair in a long braid over her left shoulder. Queen Alicia Acorn no doubt.

There were also 2 guards in the room, wearing the traditional Royal Acorn Guard uniform: a blue overcoat with a yellow collar, burnt orange pants, and dark brown boots polished to a rough shine.

"Excuse me," the King said, "who are you?"

"My name's Sonic, I came to tell you that you're in danger. Robotnik has..."

"...Escaped?" The King cut him off. "Yes, I know. We're looking into it."

"Well, do you need my help?" Sonic asked, honestly a little bit irritated at the seemingly pointless errand he'd given himself, but now was not the time, he needed to help if he could.

"I'm not sure that you can help, but thank you for the offer." The King stated, obviously thinking of other, more important things.

"Max, what about Sally?" The Queen asked him.

"I've sent out the guards to go and get her, they should have her safely back here within a couple hours." He replied, confidence in his voice, but concern on his face.

"Maybe Sonic could help make sure she get's back ok, or maybe help the guards find her. He does seem pretty fast, and it couldn't hurt..." She said, her voice soft and almost pleading. She was obviously very concerned for her daughter.

The King was concerned as well. He thought about it for a moment before he turned to Sonic.

"How fast are you Sonic?" He asked.

The question caught Sonic off guard. "I'm not sure, but I can break the sound barrier if I try." He replied.

"Then I need you to do something for me," The King said, taking a deep breath before continuing. "My daughter is on the east side of town with her friends, She doesn't know about Robotnik's escape yet. I want you to go and help make sure she's..."

He was cut off as the wall behind him exploded in a fiery fury! A large metal ship coming through the wall, Sonic ducked for cover behind a pillar and waited to see what would happen.

The king pulled himself out from underneath the rubble created by the collapsed wall, and then looked up in horror at what he saw. Julian Robotnik was standing over him, his black-red eyes burrowing through any confidence the king had.

"Hello." Robotnik said in a low, unnerving voice.

"Julian..." the King said, unsure of what was about to happen.

"I believe you were one of the ones who thought that I was insane, am I mistaken?" Robotnik asked him.

"No, no, you're right. Blatant disregard for common ethics is often considered insane." The King replied.

"Well, I can't have that point of view being spread around can I? Now you'll see what happens when someone crosses me!" Robotnik said, his voice containing a sinister quality hidden inside.

Robotnik turned and started to walk away, and, for a moment, the King almost wondered what was going to happen. Then, he heard a light beeping noise from behind him, turned to look, and wished he hadn't. It was a bomb. An explosion ripped through the air, throwing the King and Queen across the room, and bringing them to a violent stop as they were thrown against the wall.

Sonic quickly got up from his spot and dashed over to them, waiting patiently for any response. After a moment, Sonic checked the King for a pulse, there was none. Sonic dropped his head, pain surging through him. He sighed, the stress getting to be intense. It was horrifying. He stood up slowly, drawing in a deep breath as he did so. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help you, but I'll keep your daughter safe, I promise." Sonic said to the now deceased King, his voice shaking as his nerves were so severely rattled. He half turned, checked the queen, she was gone as well, then turned to leave.

He walked out of the palace, the guards out front now missing, and surveyed the situation from where he stood. There was obviously a hostile takeover going on, anyone could've seen that. The screams of several people could be heard from where he stood. Smoke could be seen rising from several buildings. There was even an occasional gunshot sounding from somewhere else in town.

Sonic clenched his fists, the amount of destruction and chaos was disturbing to a degree he'd never felt before. But now was not the time to dwell on this; people's lives could be at stake! Then, remembering what he'd promised the king, he turned and faced east, quickly surveying the situation. The devastation hadn't quite reached all the way to the east edge of town; if he hurried, there was a chance that he could get to the princess before Robotnik's robotic Mobians did. Drawing in a deep breath, he dashed off at full speed. He had a promise to keep.

Meanwhile, overhead, a conversation was starting to become rather heated.

"You killed the King?" Snively exclaimed, sweat dropping off of his brow and grazing his lips as it poured off of his face.

"I'm afraid I had no choice Snively. If the King was still alive, the others would protest. They would stand for what they mistakenly believe is right. He was a symbol of this way of thinking, and had I not killed him, we would be facing severe opposition. Now that he's gone, the others will fall into line." Robotnik told Snively, his voice showing only the slightest bit of emotion.

Snively was horrified, he couldn't believe that this was happening!

"I want out!" He shouted as Robotnik started to walk away.

"Out? You think that will help? You're my accomplice in all of this, guilty by association at the least. If we can't change the minds of society, you and I are as good as dead already. There is no out Snively. But, if you still can't take it, you could always jump. A fall from two thousand feet should eliminate any more of your concerns." Robotnik replied, not even turning to face him.

Snively only gulped in response, then set about doing his work. There was no going back now.

* * *

Tails ran into the hospital at full speed and was forced to stop dead in his tracks, it was full of people, each with varying degrees of injuries. It was definitely not a pretty sight. Not only were there injured people everywhere, the hospital was running on generator power so only half of the lights were on, some of them flickering. The red echidna that had been following him came in a moment later, carrying the man that they'd pulled out of the tank, he was still strapped to his seat.

"Great, how are we gonna get this guy some help again?" The echidna asked.

"Give me a minute..." Tails replied, looking around the room for someone who could help them. There was no one, at least, not now. Tails shook his head in disappointment. There was a man dying here, how were they going to save his life now?

He lowered his head and closed his eyes in deep thought. He couldn't give up now, not yet! He thought long and hard about any way they could get this guy some help. Tails wound up his tails and began flying over the top of the crowd, taking a look at what was going on up ahead in the crowd. Everyone was obviously hurt in one way or another, some with bandages or casts, others bleeding, but everyone hurt. There was no way that they'd get any help, so he turned around and flew out an open window.

Now outside, he surveyed the landscape. Where was it? There! A pharmacy lay just ahead, on the other side of the road. Nobody left inside, he walked in, looking around at the supplies. He walked up and down the different aisles, grabbing bandages, rubbing alcohol, and a first aid kit; but what else was he missing? Then, he remembered, and went back down a previous aisle, checking the shelves up and down. There it was! Everything he would need to stitch up the wound.

With supplies in hand, he turned and headed out, but paused when he reached the door. What he was doing was technically stealing, but there was a man's life at stake here, and there was no way that he was going to get any service. So out he walked, supplies in hand. An idea crept into the back of his mind: this was probably not the last time that he would have to do this.

Tails took to the skies again, heading back towards the hospital as fast as he could. He landed just outside the front doors and then walked inside. He searched the crowd, looking for the echidna. There he was, still holding the man over his shoulder. Tails ran over to him as quickly as his feet permitted him, coming to a sliding stop next to him.

The echidna looked over at him, confusion on his face. "Weren't you just over there?" He asked.

"I took a shortcut, now come on, let's get this guy fixed up." Tails said, motioning him to follow.

The echidna shrugged, then followed Tails outside. They walked over to a nearby parking ramp and headed inside. Moving about halfway up, they stopped in an empty parking space, and, once there, Tails began "operating" on the man, after he was removed from the seat of course.

30 minutes later, the "operation" was complete, and Tails backed away. Another hour passed before the man woke up, and when he did, they were waiting.

He mumbled softly, as he slowly came back to consciousness. "mmmm... What... Where am I?" He asked.

Tails was the first one to respond. "You're not in your tank anymore if that's what you're wondering. We pulled you out and got you to safety."

"And before you move," the echidna started to point out, "You might like to know that this guy just got done stitching you back together. So don't get up."

"Right..." He mumbled again.

"What's your name?" Tails asked him, trying to change the subject.

"Max." He replied.

"You mind telling us what happened in there?" the echidna asked him.

"In the tank? Yeah, well... I saw you talking about the robots," he said, his head inclined toward Tails, "and when the gunner turned the barrel away you were lifted up off the ground. Then, after it tossed you away, it turned toward me and jumped on top of the tank before it finally climbed inside. It looked at the gunner first, then tried to grab him, but accidentally smacked his head hard against the side of the tank. I heard a cracking noise, I think it broke his neck."

Tails shivered, the image still fresh in his mind.

Max continued: "Then it tried to grab me, I reached for something to defend myself with and it tried to rip it from my hands. It succeeded, and I lunged toward it to try to reclaim my weapon, but it cost me. It hit me with the weapon and I felt a piercing pain in my chest. I knew that I would be alright, but I had to act fast. So I played dead and then passed out. When I came back to reality, I saw you guys. Who are you anyway?"

Tails started: "I'm Tails, and this is..." he paused, as he suddenly realized that he didn't have a name for the echidna that had been tagging along for the last few hours. Thankfully, the echidna supplied the name for him.

"You can call me Knuckles, I have another name, but... It's a long story." He said. He opened his mouth to continue, but his head jerked to the side quickly, his eyes panning the environment as he did so.

"What's up Knuckles?" Tails asked him.

"We've got company." He replied. And suddenly, all three of them began to feel anxiety creeping into the corners of their minds; this was not going to be fun.


	7. Season 1 - Episode 7: Lost and Found

**Sonic Haven: Ssn. 1 – Ep. 7**

Tails turned and looked at where Knuckles was looking, it wasn't good. There were two of those robotic Mobians moving through the garage, and it wouldn't be long until they found the three of them hiding out here. They very well couldn't fight them; they could win, sure, but that wasn't the point. Inside each one of those robotic suits was a living, breathing, mobian. They couldn't risk hurting them. Thinking for a moment, Tails came to the only logical conclusion.

"We need to hide!" He said, his voice tense, but quiet, so as to avoid detection.

The other two nodded in agreement, and they moved out. They only had to move a couple of cars over, thank goodness; since Max was barely conscious, they couldn't move quickly at all and they needed to find a hiding spot now! Then, Tails heard a creaking noise. He turned to look and saw Knuckles prying a car door open. He opened his mouth to say something, decided against it, and climbed into the car with Max. Knuckles climbed in after they did, shutting the door as best he could behind the three of them.

They sat in the car, their hearts pounding in their ears, as they heard the two robotic Mobians walk past. They all sank down into their seats a little further the closer the two robots got. After they passed, the three waited for what seemed like an eternity, but what was probably only five minutes, before they got up to move. They started to motion toward the broken door, before it swung open in front of them, their hearts skipping a beat as they all looked up to see what had found them.

* * *

Sonic came to a screeching halt; eight straight buildings in this section of town, and still no sign of the princess. He was beginning to wonder if he would find her before it was too late; he was in a race against time, as Robotnik's forces had started to move into this part of town as well. They could cover way more ground much faster than he could simply because of their numbers. Time, he realized, was of the essence.

Sonic hid around the corner in an alleyway as several of the Doctor's robots started moving down the street looking for people. They were turning everyone into robots using those suits that Robotnik had designed. He watched as they started to turn towards a building, busting through the front of it and marching inside. He waited for a moment, then watched as they brought three late-teenaged individuals out of the building, thrusting them forward into a larger crowd of Robotic Mobians. He couldn't wait any longer, he had to do something!

Sonic burst forward at blazing speed, a blue streak following him as he moved forward. Curling into a ball shape, he thrust himself into the chests of four of the robots standing around these individuals, pinballing between one and the next. Twenty more robots stood in a ring around Sonic and the three others. He looked back at the three individuals, a serious expression on his face. "Run." He said in a low voice, but still loud enough to be clearly heard. Dashing forward and throwing himself into three more of the robots, he created a clearing, and the three individuals escaped. Sonic, however, lost enough speed to be caught by one of the robots, who was then assisted by another.

Held above the ground by the two robots, Sonic tried to squirm his way free, but, it was no use. He lifted his head to look up at his captors who'd started to bring over the backpack-like device to turn him into one of them. That's when some movement caught his eye, two individuals running from a group of robots in the building across the street, roughly ten floors up. He couldn't let them get captured as well, he had to get free! Traction. He needed traction, somehow. He lifted his legs and braced them against the two robots holding him up; then, attempting to curl up again, he created enough torque to spin the robots off of their feet and onto their back. With Sonic now on top of them, he kicked himself free and started to run towards the building in front of him.

He ran up eight floors before jumping off of the building, flying across the street, landing on that building, then jumping back across the street and thrusting himself through one of the windows on the tenth floor. He was only moments behind the two he'd seen earlier and the robots that were chasing them. He had no time to waste! He took off down the hall in a stride only slightly quicker than average. He came to a sharp corner at the end of the hallway he was in. Collecting himself first, he rolled into a ball and bounced along the far wall on the other end of the corner, landing on his feet in a full stride. He was only a couple of steps behind the groups now. Accelerating a little more, he jumped up and over the group of robots, landed on the other side, grabbed the two girls, accelerated even more, and then thrust himself out of the building through another pane of glass.

He flew over one building and into another, crashing through yet another pane of glass, sending the particles spraying violently into the air. The three of them landed in a sloppy roll, and Sonic ended up on the bottom of a heap of bruised, winded, and cut individuals. Rolling off of him, the two got up and caught their breath. Sonic collected himself and then looked at the two he'd just saved. One was a red-haired girl, who wore a light blue blouse and pants. The other had brown hair and wore a red outfit of similar design.

"Thank you for saving us sir." The red-haired one said. "Without you, we would probably be robots by now."

"Yes," The other agreed, "Thank you sir."

"What's with all of this 'sir' stuff? You can call me Sonic, otherwise, I just might get used to 'sir'. You wouldn't want that to go to my head now, would you?" Sonic joked.

"No, of course not." The brown-haired one said, chuckling slightly.

"Any chance I can get your names?" Sonic asked, though he thought he knew who one of them was already.

"Certainly; my name is Sally Acorn, and this is my best friend Tiara." The red-haired princess told him.

"Mmhm, thought so. You look a lot like... your mother." He choked out the last bit, before looking away from her.

Sally could sense that something was wrong. "What is it?" She asked him.

He grimaced before he spoke, the joking expression that was once on his face now replace with something much more serious and pained. Should he tell her? Now was certainly not the best time. But what if he waited? What would he tell her now? How would she feel then? No, he had to tell her.

He braced himself and then drew a deep breath. "I have some bad news for you Princess;" he winced, then continued: "I went to your parents to see if I could help in defense. While I was there, Robotnik attacked. He... I couldn't stop him, I never saw it coming... He killed them. I'm sorry." Sonic was a little shaky after he finished. He looked over at the princess and noticed the tears in her eyes. He knew it was coming, but it needed to be said. Keeping it from her would only hurt her more.

As tears streamed down her face, Sally tried to compose herself; but to no avail. What started as a whimper, slowly became a cry, a cry that lasted for several minutes. She cried into Tiara's shoulder.

Sonic let her cry for as long as he could before he heard steps coming towards them. His head shot up when he heard it; then he realized, the robots had seen him jump into this building, they must still be tracking them. Sonic looked over at Tiara, the look on her face told him that she heard the steps too.

Sonic burst into action, grabbing the sobbing princess and her friend and taking them for a ride. A couple of minutes later, they were on the other side of town, just outside of a parking garage. Sonic caught his breath and listened again. He heard the wind, sounds of battle coming from elsewhere in the city, car alarms he'd triggered by running past at high speed just a moment ago, Sally's crying, now beginning to quiet to more of a sob, and... voices.

He blinked. "Voices?" he mumbled to himself. Then he listened again. Yes, voices; coming from inside the parking garage. He focused on them just in time to hear one of the voices say something about trouble.

"We need to hide!" he heard Tails' voice say.

Sonic knew that he needed to do something. He turned and looked at Sally and Tiara. It seemed that, for the most part anyway, Sally was done crying and had mostly collected herself. Sonic nodded his head to the side and said in a low voice, nearly a murmur: "Follow me, and be quiet."

The two nodded and followed him up a few floors before they stopped. Sonic noticed that one of the cars had a door that was badly bent, and that had been forced back into position. He walked over to it and waited at the door. Sally and Tiara stepped up behind him and waited, wondering what he was planning on doing. Sonic peeked inside the window; he smirked and opened the door.


	8. Season 1 - Episode 8: The Best Soldiers

**Sonic Haven: Ssn. 1 – Ep. 8**

The rain was beating down on the roof overhead. Occasionally it would splash in through a small hole in the lonely window on the west wall of this now abandoned apartment that they were using to hide for the time being. There were pictures on the walls of a fox couple, the former occupants no doubt. The carpet was brown and the walls were a soft creamy color. There was a lone ceiling fan occupying the room, though it didn't currently work. There were also several individuals inside, discussing what to do now.

The groups had just gotten done explaining what had happened to them during the day's events.

Sonic looked around at the individuals around him, a room full of people from almost every conceivable background. There was a two-tailed fox that was good with machines, his best friend since childhood. There was also a red echidna from some kind of tribe that was located near the ruins in the Emerald Hills; he claimed that he'd failed to protect one of the mysterious Chaos Emeralds from Robotnik, thus failing his people. He'd left the tribe to right his wrongs and get the emerald back. Also from Tails' group was an injured tank driver named Max.

From what Max had said in the interchange, Sonic discerned that Max hadn't been with the military for long. He'd never seen combat before, and was terrified. Sonic gave him a good long look. He was a Siberian Husky, mostly black, but with a white face and green eyes. He wore a green vest over a white t-shirt, both of which had holes in them; they also had a spot of blood on them near the stab wound. He also wore green military boots and an orange ball cap. His face was hard, his teeth set, though that could have been from the pain.

"So now what?" Tails asked the group.

Expressions varied from individual to individual, some were deep in thought, others distraught. Sonic, Max, and Knuckles had faces of stone, determined to get through this and make it all better if possible. For Max and Knuckles this was understandable; Max being of a military background and Knuckles having a sense of duty to his people. Sonic's look was more puzzling. He had no sense of duty or anything like that. None of this was his fault after all. He also was only a civilian, what could he possibly be expected to do?

Sally and Tiara were very frightened, perhaps wondering if they would ever get out of the city with their lives, while Tails was considering multiple angles on what had happened, what was happening, and what could happen, trying to figure out the best course of action.

"I think it's obvious that we all need to get out of the city." Sonic stated matter-of-factly.

"Well yeah, but how do we get past the robotic Mobians in the city?" Max asked.

"Robians." Sally said out of the blue.

"What?" Max asked.

"You know, robotic Mobians, just rammed together. Call them Robians." She replied.

"That's great, but what about escaping? Any ideas?" Tiara asked.

Everyone went quiet for a moment, looking at the others in the group and thinking of possible means of escape. Then Sally remembered something.

"Sonic, what about the others that you found?" She asked.

"I don't know. I wonder if they made it out." Sonic stated, his thoughts distant.

"I think that we should take a look. If they didn't make it out, they need our help." She stated.

"This city is huge, how do you propose that we look for them?" Knuckles asked.

"I found Sally, and I searched every building on the east side of town doing so. If they're still in the city, I'll find them." Sonic said rather confidently.

Max nodded. "Alright, let's rest up for tonight; then we can look for them tomorrow. If we haven't found them by noon, we'll make our way out of the city and should be out by evening."

"Sounds good to me." Sonic said nodding his head.

Everyone else nodded in silent agreement, and they all dozed off to sleep. Well, everyone except for Sonic, he had the first watch shift.

* * *

"Ya know, if y'all would move yer tail we'd be out of town by now." A soft southern female voice called back. It belonged to Bunnie, a cream colored rabbit dressed in a purple tank-top and a black jacket that hung down over her dark purple cargo pants. She had blonde hair and two long ears, one of which was drooped over her face.

"Excusez-moi, but I am moving ze fastest I can!" Antoine replied. He was a coyote, and an exceptionally timid one at that. He had short, perfectly shaped blonde hair and wore a blue jacket over his white t-shirt and red pants that fell down and covered part of his brown shoes.

"Seriously Antoine? I'm not exactly what you would call 'in shape' but I move twice as fast as you." That was Boomer, he was a slightly overweight walrus that wore a yellow t-shirt and a backwards blue ball cap. His friends called him Rotor since he loved working on machines.

"Of course I am to be moving slowly, I am trying to make sure not to step into any of ze traps!" He retorted.

"Antoine, Robotnik just took over the city; he hasn't had time to set up traps!" Rotor replied.

"You are not to be knowing this..." Antoine replied.

"Would y'all pipe down, somebody's comin'." Bunnie shushed them.

As Rotor and Antoine quieted, there were, in fact, two distinct voices approaching from ahead. The three quickly hid in a storage room and waited for the voices to pass. Antoine began to fidget, uncomfortable with the thought of being caught. Bunnie put her hand over his mouth to quiet the 'bdgt-bdgt-bdgt.' coming out of it. As the voices walked by, they recognized who they belonged to. It was Robotnik talking to his right-hand-man Snively.

"...but there are still a few hiding somewhere in the city that have yet to be converted." Snively was reporting.

"We need to find them Snively, if any of them get any ideas, it could be catastrophic for us as they start to fight." Robotnik told him.

"Do you honestly believe that a handful of people will be a problem?" Snively asked sarcastically.

Robotnik turned on him, causing Snively to come to a sliding stop as he tried to not run into Robotnik. Robotnik glared down at Snively, causing Snively to shake slightly.

"I don't take chances Snively. That's why I'm initiating plan Zeta." Robotnik rumbled at him.

"P-plan Zeta? We'll be stuck in the city." Snively replied.

"Yes, but so will they. Activate the barrier Snively, NOW!" Robotnik yelled at his subordinate.

"Y-yes sir..." Snively muttered as he walked away.

There was a moment of silence before Robotnik walked away himself. The three waited in the storage room for a while, trying to see if there may have been anyone else out in the hall. After about five minutes of silence, Bunnie peeked out into the hall to check. The coast was clear.

"Alright, let's get movin' before they come back." She called back to her friends.

They moved out into the hall and started moving through the building again. They had turned about two corners before they felt the ground shudder and heard a low buzzing sound from somewhere else in the building.

"What was that?" Rotor asked.

"Why are you asking? We are not to be knowing zis!" Antoine replied.

"It was a rhetorical question Antoine." Rotor muttered.

"Oh, but of course... he he." Antoine said, chuckling nervously.

"Would y'all be quiet, we're not in the clear yet." Bunnie stated.

"Yeah, you're right, let's go." Rotor said, starting to move on ahead.

They made their way down to ground level and walked outside. What they saw rocked them to their core. Mouths hanging wide open, they looked up to the sky, which was now an eerie pinkish-purple color. A translucent dome came down from the sky and touched the ground just outside the city limits on all sides. A barrier.

"Guys, do think this is the barrier that Robotnik was talking about earlier?" Rotor asked.

"Ah'd reckon so." Bunnie said, the shock coming through her voice.

"AAAAAAAUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHAAAAHAHAHAHA We're being DOOOOOMED!" Antoine screamed at the top of his lungs.

"ANTOINE, SHUT UP!" Bunnie and Rotor screamed back simultaneously.

It was too late, Robians were closing in from all sides.

"Dang it Antoine!" Bunnie exclaimed.

"I am terribly sorry..." He said shaking.

Just then, a burst of wind hit them in their chests. As they regained their footing, they realized who it was that had come to their rescue; it was the same blue hedgehog from earlier.

"Y'all couldn't have shown up at a better time!" Bunnie said.

"Don't mention it." Sonic said with a cocky smile on his face.

He rolled into a ball and started to charge a spin in place. He let loose and plowed through a group of 4 Robians standing at one end of the circle. Bunnie, Rotor, and Antoine ran through the hole that Sonic had made for them. The three of them continued to run down the street for a short distance before Sonic appeared in front of them.

"Follow me." He said as he took off at a pace just barely faster than theirs.

They ran after Sonic, following him for what must have been about ten minutes before they finally came to a stop in the middle of an abandoned subway station. They waited for a moment before Sonic let out an ear piercing whistle that echoed off of the stone walls and ceiling. A heartbeat later, others showed up from around corners, under benches, and from the ceiling supports. The whole group gave each other silent looks for a moment before one of them spoke up.

"Sonic, we heard some kind of rumble and a buzzing noise. What was it?" Sally asked.

"Dunno, it looks like there's some kind of energy field surrounding the city." He replied.

"It's a barrier designed to keep everyone inside of the city. That way Robotnik doesn't have to worry about anyone getting out of his grasp." Rotor added.

"Ah think it's his way of 'keeping control' so that our options are limited." Bunnie said.

"So... what, Robo-head is scared of us?" Sonic asked.

"Actually, it's a smart move. Now, nobody can get resources into the city or get information out. So we can't get out, can't get help, and can't tell anyone else how bad it is." Sally stated.

"So it's us against Him." Sonic said; it wasn't a question.

"Zis is being ze disaster, non?" Antoine asked in a defeated tone.

"It's not over 'till we say it is! If Robotnik wants a fight, let's give it to him." Sonic said confidently.

"But we're not fighters." Tiara said.

"The best soldiers are the ones who have something to fight for." Max said.

"The fortune-cookie is right, we don't exactly have a choice. Let's make Him wish that He'd let us go when He had the chance." Sonic said as he started into the subway tunnel.

"Um... Sonic. Where are you going?" Tiara asked.

"We need somewhere to hide. Somewhere to set up shop." He said without turning around.

Knuckles was the first to follow, then Max, then everyone else. Sonic was right; this fight was far from over. They needed to give themselves the best odds of winning possible. It was a small group of young adults versus a would-be dictator. This could be a slaughter, but they would make sure that it wasn't. It was time to fight back. To fight for their lives!

 **Author's Note: "If you liked the story, be sure to leave a review and let me know. Don't worry, this thing is far from over; I have a lot of plans."**


	9. Season 1 - Episode 9: Hello Princess

**Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 9**

"Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this..." Tiara was saying, her voice shaking slightly.

"No, I see it too.' Tails concurred.

The lights were flashing a progressive pattern down the tunnel and around a corner, quite obviously pointing the way forward. But what were the flashing lights leading them to? And who was leading them? Well, whoever it was, they obviously knew they were in the tunnel already; so the only thing left to do was go forward and hope this mysterious force was friendly.

They walked for a while, nerves rattling and expectations mixed. Nevertheless, they all pressed onward towards their destination.

Finally, after long moments of silent speculation, they came to a stop in front of a brick wall.

"All this way for a dead end? I told you we shouldn't have taken that left." Sonic quipped.

Sally rolled her eyes and stepped forward. She inspected the wall and then knocked on it lightly. The sound that came out of the wall was hollow.

"There's a room on the other side." She stated as she turned back toward her friends.

Sonic quickly started taking down the wall brick by brick, revealing a closed down subway station on the other side.

"What in the world? How did this get here?" Tiara asked.

"The transportation department had to close down a lot of old subway stations a while ago due to budget cuts, so stations like this got closed off." Rotor informed them.

"This could work for a base I guess, but we need to check it out and then figure out a way to get in and out without being detected by Robotnik and his Robians.' Max said as he started forward into the old station.

Sonic began sprinting around the old subway station, checking everything and leaving a blue streak of wind in his wake. Finally, he stopped back in front of his friends.

"Looks pretty dirty, but it should work." He said as he came to a sliding stop.

Sally sneezed. "Thanks for cleaning up everything for us." She said sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah. Stand back everybody." Sonic said.

They stepped back away from the hole in the wall and waited for Sonic to do whatever he was planning.

He started running in circles, creating a vortex and stirring the whole station up, sucking the dust out of everything. He then slowly moved the vortex outside the station and dumped the dust a little ways down the tunnel.

"That's better, thanks Sonic." Tiara stated with a smile on her face.

"No problem. Besides, I like to show off every once in a while." He replied with a smirk and a thumbs up.

Sally and Bunnie rolled their eyes.

"Are y'all finished now?" Bunnie asked.

"Yeah, sure. Knock yourselves out." Sonic replied.

"Zis is being ze creepy place non?" Antoine asked.

"Don't worry Antoine, there's nothing in here but a bunch of dusty old equipment." Rotor said as he started in.

The others followed suit and moved in to check out the station.

It was rather large, more than enough space for all of them. There was a central area full of benches and other things where people would've waited for the subway. Off to the left was the control room, where all of the mechanical and technical things would've been handled. There were two bathrooms in the back and off to the right a little. There was also a ticket booth just beyond the bathrooms. Right next to the ticket booth was a staircase, which had been blocked off at the top.

"This could work." Max said in a contemplative tone.

"Now we just need to figure out what we need for this to be our base." Sally said.

They talked for hours before deciding what they would do with the space. There was a stretch of empty wall on the right which would serve well as a sleeping area. For a planning room, they figured that right in the middle of everything, where the benches were currently, would be perfect for a table, some chairs, and maybe some other things too that could be used. They needed a workshop of sorts for anything mechanical they came across; that would go where the ticket booth was. A couple of computers would be nice as well, for now they would just use the computers in the control room. Last and certainly not least, they would need an area to train themselves, to prepare for the battles that loomed ahead of them.

"Okay, now that's all settled, we need some supplies to work with." Sally said, thinking as she talked. "We should split into two teams and go look for whatever we can find so we can bring it back here."

"Good idea. I'll take Tails, Antoine and Tiara with me, and you take Max, Knuckles, Rotor, and Bunnie with you." Sonic said.

"Right. We'll go East, you go West." Sally replied.

"Right. Let's go." Sonic said as he turned to leave.

They split up and each group was gone for several hours. When they came back, they combined their findings and began making plans to renovate the base. Some more discussion ensued, then they all got to work. Sonic and Knuckles started working on the training area, Tails and Rotor began working on the workshop, Bunnie and Tiara worked on the living space, and Sally worked alone in the computer room, though Antoine was there to keep her company even though he had no idea how to work with computers.

As Sally continued working on the computers, she managed to fix the monitor. What she saw when she turned it on took her breath away and made her step back.

A black screen, except for two words...

Hello Princess.


	10. Season 1 - Episode 10: A-Life

**Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 10**

"Sally?" Tails asked, a little concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I... met someone. We talked through the computer." She replied.

"Friendly?" Max asked, having overheard their conversation. The others were starting to approach, having overheard as well.

"I think so, but I'm not sure." She replied.

"Well, what did He say?" Sonic asked.

"SHE said that she was trying to help. She spotted us on some security cameras in the subway, knew that this place would suit our needs, hacked into the power grid and used the lights to guide us here." Sally said, doing her best to explain the situation.

The others thought for a moment. Finally, Antoine spoke first.

"How do we know She is not to be leading ze Robians to our location?" He asked.

"I don't think so, we've been here for a little over a day and haven't heard a peep out of Robotnik. If he knew, I'm sure he would've been here by now." Sally said.

"Yeah, that's a good point." Sonic said, thinking.

"What's on yer mind?" Bunnie asked, seeing the look on Sonic's face.

"Well, now that we know She's a friendly, it'd be nice if we could meet her. It'd make her helping us a lot easier." He said.

"That's the thing..." Sally started, "She says she's already here."

They all had mildly shocked expressions. Already here? Was She hiding from them? Why hadn't they seen her yet?

"We should've seen Her by now." Knuckles said, verbalizing the thought on everyone's mind.

"Is She still on the computer? Can we talk to her?" Max asked.

Sally nodded her head and motioned for the others to follow. She took them into a small room with several computers in it, most of them broken, save for one which looked perfectly operational.

"I was cannibalizing the other computers to make one fully functional unit, when text started to appear on the screen." Sally said, explaining what had happened. As she spoke, more text appeared on the screen.

Hello everyone, it's nice to meet you all. You'll have to type, I can't hear you without a computer microphone.

Sally sat down at the terminal and began to rapidly plunk away at the keys. 'Who are you?' She typed, then waited for the response.

I'd love to tell you, but it would be a long read. There's a set of speakers in the box over there in the corner. Please attach them.

Rotor, having read the response, picked the speakers out of the box and passed them forward. Thirty seconds later, a soft female voice could be heard coming from the newly installed equipment.

"Thank you. Communication will be easier now." The voice said.

Sally also plugged in a microphone that had been stored in the box with the speakers. She spoke into it slowly and deliberately: "Who - are - you?"

"There's no need to speak like that, I can hear you." The voice returned, a slight chuckle behind the words. This wasn't a synthetic voice as Sally had first thought.

"Okay, but can you please answer the question, we're all a little skeptical of who you are." Sally replied kindly, but firmly.

"Of course," She began, "I just wanted you to know that you're talking to a real person. My name is Nicole."

"Nice to meet ya!" Sonic said from the back of the room with a smirk and a thumbs-up.

"Where are you? We haven't seen you around the base, but you told me that you were here." Sally asked.

"You're looking at me right now." Nicole responded.

"But I don't see you..." Sally stated uneasily.

"You mean to tell us that you're IN the computer?" Sonic asked, taken aback.

"Sonic don't be ridiculous!" Tiara chimed in.

"No, He's right. I am in the computer..." Nicole said bluntly.

The air went dead. They all looked at each other for a moment, then back to the screen expectantly.

"It's a long story...

"About ten years ago, a research team was trying to find a cure for Neuro Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a disease that attacks the nervous system and slowly shuts down your immune system as it makes its way into the brain stem, where it then shuts down neurological activity piece by piece. I had this disease." Nicole explained. "However, they discovered that if they transferred someone into a computer, they would not have an immune system or a neurological system to be attacked. The procedure was long and complicated, only a ten percent chance of survival. I was one of two that survived. I don't know what happened to the other patient. I, however, am trapped in here. If I were to go back out to the physical world, I would continue to be eaten alive by the disease. My family used to come and visit me on a regular basis at the hospital where I was located, but I haven't heard from them since the attack."

"Hold on," Sally interrupted, "you said that you used to be in a hospital? How in the world did you get to an abandoned subway station?"

"During the takeover, I did my best to hide from Robotnik and his robotic Mobians. However, a computer housing a consciousness draws a lot of power. The robotic Mobians noticed me. So I uploaded my consciousness to the most remote location I could find, right here in the subway, and began monitoring everything upstairs as best I could. When I noticed you looking for a place to hide, I pointed you here." Nicole explained further.

"Yeah, thanks. This place looks like it'll turn out great once we get everything set up." Sonic said smiling.

"I'm glad you like it. I'm afraid I don't know all of what you know, however, so could you guys fill me in?" Nicole asked.

"Shouldn't you know more than us? Being in a computer and being able to survey things from here, you should be able to see a lot more than we can." Rotor commented.

"You might think so. But, in fact, most of the security cameras around town are down; and up to this point, I've been unable to remotely hack Robotnik's system. Because of these things, my perception is rather limited." Nicole stated with a slightly sad tone in her voice.

"Don't ya worry yer cyber-tail! Ya did everythin' ya could." Bunnie replied encouragingly.

"Well, I guess we've got a lot to tell you too." Sally said.

* * *

It had been a long couple of hours as the group took turns exchanging what they knew with Nicole to bring her up to speed. Finally, with everyone on the same page, it was time to look forward.

"I guess all that's left is to come up with a name for the base..." Tails said.

"Do we really need to name this glorified hole-in-the-wall?" Knuckles quipped.

"I think we should, something that keeps in the spirit of what we're doing here." Tiara said, thinking about possibilities.

"HQ. It's classic." Sonic said with a smug look on his face.

"I like the inner-sanctum" Tails said.

"You read to many comic books." Rotor replied with a 'seriously' look on his face.

"How about... Haven? A haven from Robotnik and his Robians; A haven where society and freedom fight slavery and oppresion. The only safe place left." Nicole said.

"Heh, I like it! Anyone else?" Sonic asked.

They all looked at each other, then they nodded in agreement.

"Alright, Haven it is then." Sally stated with finality.

So there it was, a new base, a group of friends, all working together with the purpose of overthrowing a newly established tyrannical ruler. Would they succeed? Only time would tell.


	11. Season 1 - Episode 11: Plan of Action

**Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 11**

All was quiet around Haven, the newly named and just finished base that a group of freedom fighters had set up underneath an occupied city ruled by a tyrannical mad-man. The only noise heard came from the nerve center, a low hum that resonated through the base. Inside were two individuals. One was a red-haired princess, the other, a brown-haired girl that was starting to make her best friend question her sanity.

"Seriously, Sonic?" Sally asked, not sure she could believe what she was hearing.

"What? He's a nice guy, and I think he's cute." Tiara said twiddling her thumbs.

"You like Sonic?" Sally asked, confirming what she was hearing.

"A little; I mean, He's nice. But I think it's way to early to tell for sure." Tiara replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well, at least you still seem to have some common sense left; that's a good sign." Sally replied jokingly.

"So... what, you don't like Sonic?" Tiara asked, trying to flip the script on her friend.

"Well, like you said, he seems like a nice guy, but His jokes would drive me crazy. Besides, I barely know him." Sally replied in a 'drop it' tone.

A third voice chipped in. "The two of you have issues." Nicole added. "Don't you think that you should get to know Sonic at last a little before you have this kind of conversation?"

"You're looking too far into this." Tiara said with a smirk on her face.

"We're not stupid, of course we'd have to get to know Him better before anything serious happened. I mean, we don't want this to turn out like high school again... do we Tiara?" Sally asked as she turned to face her friend.

"What? He was cute too." Tiara replied with her hands held above her head in a symbol of surrender.

The three girls giggled about it, then moved on in the conversation.

"So, I take it you finished then?" Sally asked Nicole.

"Yes, I just finished." Nicole replied.

"Can I see the results please?" Sally requested.

A string of numbers and algorithms appeared on screen. Sally studied them for a moment before she smirked and stepped away.

"Looks like it'll work." She said. "Let's tell the others."

* * *

The whole team was sitting in the ready room. They'd created the room in the middle of the old station. It had a long banquet table in the middle, some folding chairs around the edge of it, and a large screen on one end connected to a large computer that was wired to the other, smaller computers where Nicole had made her residence. Sally was standing next to the screen, upon which Nicole had displayed herself for the rest of the team.

She was a Lynx with chocolate brown fur and black hair draped over the left side of her face. She wore a purple dress with a black collar and black gloves. She also looked to be holding a folder in her left hand.

"Alright everyone," Sally started to say, "Since we are stuck in this city, I think it's time we try to make the most of it. We've been down here setting up Haven for about five days. In that time, the world upstairs has changed drastically. Robotnik has set up several factories where he has begun producing more Roboticizers and even started making his own robots."

"Wait a minute..." Sonic interrupted. "Aren't the Robians enough? What are the others for?"

"The Robians only have minor weapons capabilities;" Sally replied, "remember that it was supposed to help the disabled, not be used as an instrument of war. The new robots He's making are more militaristic. They've been designated Superior Weaponized Attack Troop Robots or 'S.W.A.T. Bots'. These things are not to be messed with! We have no idea what kind of weapons they're loaded with, but we do know that the shell is made out of an incredibly hard titanium alloy called Robonite. And since they're all robot, they can be mass produced, unlike Robians, which need an organic host."

"Great, things are really looking up... anything else?" Max asked.

"Not yet, but we can't be sure." Sally replied.

"So what's our first move then?" Rotor asked.

"This factory just went up yesterday and started making S.W.A.T. Bots... Nicole." Sally started, signaling Nicole to display the information they'd come up with.

Nicole pulled a file out of her folder and threw it onto the screen for everyone to see. She started to explain: "According to the schematics we were able to make from our observations, this factory is drawing power from four different power plants around town. If we can tell the central power core to draw more power from the grid, it should cause the core to overload and then explode. Reprogramming the core will take a lot of technical know-how and hacking ability..."

"Which is why I think we should take Nicole with us." Sally interjected.

"Well that's great, but ummm... how?" Sonic asked.

"With this..." Sally said as she threw a smartphone onto the table. "It's the latest model; it has three terabytes of space and enough processing power and memory to handle Nicole. She won't be able to do a lot, but it should at least serve as a means of transportation for her."

"Nice. Smart plan Sal." Sonic said approvingly.

"Thanks. Now we'll be able to take care of Robotnik's computers anywhere we go." She replied.

"Great, now we just need ta figure out how we're gonna get in." Bunnie added.

They sat together and talked about the plan for more than an hour, covering as many details as they could. The idea they ended up putting together was definitely a rough one, but it was all they could do. After all, none of them were military strategists.

After they left the room, Sally let out a sigh. She was definitely overwhelmed. She wasn't a leader, nor was she a strategically minded person. It was becoming too much, and she wasn't the only one feeling like this either. She could tell that everyone was stressed. Who could blame them? After all, they were completely outmatched. Nevertheless, they had to push forward. Tomorrow would be a new day. Would they succeed in destroying one of Robotnik's factories? Or would their noble crusade end right here before it began? Only time would tell.


	12. Season 1 - Episode 12: Mission Start

**Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 12**

4:15am, Sally looked at her watch again. A low hanging fog crept across the cityscape in front of her, the rain drizzling down the sides of buildings and gently churning the puddles in the street. Thankfully, the city's barrier was raised high enough to allow it to develop a mini ecosystem inside.

She swept the wet hair off of the front of her face as she looked across the moonlit street to the alley where Knuckles and the others were waiting. She looked just in time to see Knuckles give her a thumbs-up, the symbol that they were ready to go.

The guards changed shifts at 4:25 every morning, which would give them just enough time to get inside without being noticed. That was, of course, assuming that everything went right. Sally turned around and looked to Sonic, Tails, and Bunnie. They all nodded as well. The groups had split up so that if the first group was captured, the second group could finish the mission or plan a rescue operation.

Sally felt a sick feeling weave it's way through her gut. She felt as though she wasn't ready for this. The feeling had come and gone since shortly after she realized that she was becoming the leader of this group. It wasn't that she thought that she couldn't handle it, but the pressure was really high. People's lives hung on what she decided to do at any given moment, and not just the lives of those in her team. If they were successful, they could give the Robians their lives back as well. … She shook her head; there would be time to worry later, right now she needed to focus on getting everyone through the next thirty minutes.

* * *

Knuckles looked over at Max, who nodded that it was time to go. Knuckles made a motion with his hand to indicate that they needed to move inside the building that they had been standing next to. Everyone moved; well, except for Antoine, who shook his head and planted himself firmly in place. Knuckles, knowing there was no time for argument, raised his fist in a threatening gesture. Antoine, seeing the gesture, whimpered and ran inside. Knuckles sighed and shook his head before following the others inside.

The building must have been some kind of Hotel before Robotnik took over. They walked into a small lobby area that had been decorated with stylish-but-dated carpet and an assortment of fake plants. Max walked past a pod, which had crashed through the ceiling in the invasion, and over to the staircase where he noticed that the door had been blocked. Scratching his head, he motioned for Knuckles to come and "open" the door.

Knuckles walked across the lobby, which was soggy from the rain coming through the hole in the roof, and over to the stairway door. He thrust his hands through the wall on either side of the door and pulled the door out of the wall. A pungent stench wafted though the room. Max noticed the board that had been nailed to the back of the door, presuming that the door had been sealed from the inside. The two looked at each other, knowing what they would find on the way up.

Knuckles grabbed hold of Antoine and started to drag him up the steps. Max was leading the way up, with Knuckles in the back. Sure enough, on the way up, they saw a corpse. Someone who had apparently barricaded themselves into the stairway to prevent the Robians from getting in, only to die from dehydration days later. His clothes indicated that he'd been in Mobitropolis on vacation. While the sight was definitely unsettling, he was obviously not the only one who would have died in the takeover.

The group marched forward, up to the second floor and over to a window. Looking across the alleyway that they were in only moments earlier, they saw the factory right next door. It was almost all solid concrete, the only entrance being the front door which was heavily guarded. They were making a new entrance: jumping from the second-floor windows of the hotel to the third-floor windows of the factory.

Knuckles went first, jumping up and grasping the bottom of the open window before pulling himself through. Eventually, everyone was across except for Antoine, who refused to jump. Tiara jumped back into the hotel and thrust Antoine through the window and across the gap where he was grabbed by Rotor, who hauled him up into the factory. Once everyone was inside, they took a look from the third-floor balcony to survey the factory floor below.

The new guards were walking in and taking their posts next to the door. Robians were working non-stop all across the floor, preparing different parts for the S.W.A.T. Bots. Security cameras and other various security systems were haphazardly placed around the factory to ensure the security of the building.

Knuckles pulled a piece of pipe off of the railing that encircled the third floor balcony and thrust it across the factory to the far side where it clanged off of the wall and clattered to the floor. The Robians, both workers and guards, moved to inspect the sound. Max flashed his flashlight out of the window and across the street to shine on the second group. Then they waited.

* * *

Sally noticed a flashing light coming from the window. She motioned for the others to follow her as she moved towards the factory and hustled inside before the Robians returned to work. While they moved in, Knuckles' group quietly slid across the upper floor and to the other side of the factory, situating themselves on the opposite side of where Sally's group was.

While Sally's team moved towards the central computer, Knuckles team moved behind a set of empty barrels on the upper floor. Knuckles purposefully pushed one of the barrels over the railing, causing all of the Robains to take notice. All of the Robians in the complex swarmed to Knuckles' position, climbing up ladders and even stacking on each other in an attempt to reach the upper balcony. The Robians grabbed hold of the bottom of the balcony and started pulling down. Then, with a loud crash, at least half of the balcony fell down at once! With sore bodies, Knuckles' team picked themselves up and looked straight into the faces of the Robians that now surrounded them.

Sally plugged Nicole into the computer in the middle of the room, then turned to see how the other team was doing, only to be greeted with a loud crash that rattled her. The balcony had fallen down! The other team was surrounded! Sonic was not taking any chances! He rolled into a ball, peeled out with a high pitched squeal, then launched himself over the Robians, bounced off of the wall over Tiara's head and crashed into the Robians, tossing them in every conceivable direction. Sonic turned and looked at the people standing behind him before shouting: "RUN!" He didn't need to say it twice! As one, the team began running and making their way out of the factory, Knuckles and Sonic leading the way.

As He passed Sally, Sonic asked: "How are we doing?"

Sally didn't reply immediately. Instead, she looked to Nicole.

"I need more time!" Nicole replied.

"We don't have time!" Sonic stated urgently.

Nicole paused for only a moment before she spoke again. "Leave me here." She stated bluntly.

"What?" Sonic and Sally exclaimed at the same time.

"I don't think we have a choice. I'll upload myself to Robotnik's mainframe and hide there after I've rigged the factory to overload; you guys can get me there." Nicole said in a voice that implied she wasn't open to talking about this.

As Sonic opened his mouth to reply he heard a loud whir and a thud come from over by the door.A S.W.A.T. Bot had been activated and was blocking his friends' escape. His eyes went wide. He looked to Sally and said, breathlessly: "oh no..."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

I'm sorry it's been so long since I uploaded an episode of Sonic Haven, but I've been busy! I am the sole creator of Super Smash Bros. SupreMacy, and I just recently released its alpha lite version, which was a chore for a long time. My YouTube channel also just went over 100 subs and I'm working on the 100 subs special for that even now. I also was just made the Global Moderator of a young forum. I also had family visit during all of this. Suffice it to say that life has been busy for me, but I'm back! I want to finish season 1 sometime soon, so be sure to keep abreast of the situation! And, as always, have a good day!


	13. Season 1 - Episode 13: SWAT

**Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 13**

Sonic stared, mouth agape. It must have been at least eight feet tall. It had a chrome finish and a body built like a football player in full pads. A large chrome hemisphere with a red LED visor on the front of it presided where the head should be. Though it technically had no face, it had a menacing tone to it from head to toe. It was also standing between his friends and the door they'd been heading for. Was escape even possible at this point? It didn't matter! Unlike the Robians that had begun surrounding them all, the S.W.A.T. Bot had no person inside, meaning Sonic could go against this thing full force and not have to worry about hurting anyone.

It took Sonic all of three steps to clear the factory floor and get to the S.W.A.T. Bot at high speed. He rolled into a ball and slammed himself against its chest as hard as he could before careening off into the wall to the left and landing on a pile of metal barrels that had been knocked over in the skirmish. He looked up at the S.W.A.T. Bot, only to realize that he hadn't even left a dent in it!

The bot turned to look at Sonic pulling himself from the pile he'd landed in only to be greeted with a solid fist to the face from Knuckles, who was more than eager to hit something. The bot slid back several feet from the impact, though it never lost its balance and again remained virtually undamaged.

By this time, Sally and the others had nearly cleared the building, which would leave only Sonic and Knuckles inside. Sonic decided that it would be best if they left the S.W.A.T. Bot here for now and retreated to gather themselves before launching another offensive. Knuckles thought that too, but wasn't eager to run from a fight. Just as Sonic turned to grab Knuckles and try to make a break for it, the Robians thrust their friends back into the fray from the edge of the factory, all of them landing with a solid thunk on the concrete floor.

Now battered and bruised, they picked themselves up from the floor and looked at their surroundings. Robians on all sides and a S.W.A.T. Bot painting an imposing figure only a handful of feet away. Sonic collected himself to think for a moment. What could they do now? The idea had been for Sonic and Knuckles to distract the S.W.A.T. Bot until the others made it out and then to retreat behind them. Now, with everyone right here and with seemingly no means of escape, what could they do?

If they could get the S.W.A.T. Bot off of them for just a moment, Sonic might be able to clear a path for them to get through the crowd and back to safety. But how? The question hung in the air for only a moment before he heard Tiara yell his name.

"Sonic..." She called to him. He turned his head to look at her. "Spin!" She yelled.

Sonic did as he was told and began spinning in place. Tiara then pointed to Knuckles, who grabbed Sonic's spinning form and chucked at the S.W.A.T. Bot. Sonic hit the bot with such force that it went flying through the factory with a large dent in its chest. What Sonic, Knuckles, and Tiara didn't realize, however, was that the bot had already moved forward and grabbed Bunnie by the arm. Thus, she was sent flying along with the S.W.A.T. Bot, landing in a crowd of Robians who immediately moved in on her and began to drag her away.

Meanwhile, Sonic had been rendered unconcious by the blow he'd just delivered. He lay on the ground, motionless. As Max hoisted Sonic over his shoulder to carry him out, a glow started emminating from the console that Sally had left Nicole in. The glow became more and more intense over the next few seconds before Sally shouted: "It's gonna blow!"

Frantically, the entire team started moving towards the door with Knuckles leading the way and knocking Robians out of their path. After heading outside, the team split up to avoid being followed. The Robians watched them all split up and followed them throughout the city.

In all of the chaos that ensued, none of the Robians thought that _they_ would be the ones being followed. However, after shaking Her pursuit, Tiara follwed the group of Robians that had taken Bunnie to a large building not far from the factory. She noted its location, then moved towards Haven to tell the others.

* * *

"... and then they'll roboticize her with that backpack thing. This isn't good!" Rotor exclaimed.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sonic stated sarcastically as he rubbed his head. "And what happened to Tiara?"

"She az not come back." Antoine said in a defeated tone as he dropped his head. "We should be expecting ze worst."

"Don't count me out yet Antoine!" Tiara said triumphantly as she walked into Haven. "I followed the Robians. I know where Bunnie is." She wanted to cut to the chase, there was no time for chit-chat.

"Alright, where?" Sally asked, understanding the need for swift action.

"She's in a large tower. It's not far from the factory we were at; a little over a block north from there." Tiara replied.

"I remember that building. Bunnie, Antoine, and I were there when Sonic found us."Rotor stated. "Robotnik had been hanging around there at the time. I wonder if that's his headquarters..."

"Whether it is or not, that area will be crawling with Robians and at least the one S.W.A.T. Bot. We need a plan!" Sally said.

"Another thing. If it is Robotnik's headquarters, Nicole should be in there on his mainframe." Sonic said.

"Well then, let's get to work!" Sally said in a commanding tone.

The team gathered together and began discussing their next plan of action. If the factory mission was big, this was massive. The lives of at least one, and potentially two of their friends hung in the balance. Time to get down to buisiness.

"...everyone know their assignments?" Sally asked, looking around at the team. They all nodded affirmatively. "Alright then, let's go!" She said, immediately moving toward the door.

'Hang on Bunnie,' Sonic thought to himself, 'we're coming for ya!'

 **Author's Note: It's really been 45 days since the last chapter? Sorry guys, this chapter has been done for like a month and I just forgot to upload it! derp...**


	14. Season 1 - Episode 14: Pixelation

**Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 14**

She continued wandering further into the digital space she was now a part of, looking all around her and trying to remain alert for trouble. Nicole took a deep breath, trying to remind herself not to become complacent. No, she hadn't come across any problems yet in Robotnik's computer, but that didn't mean anything really. After all, she was in a rarely used and fairly unsecured part of his system, which explained the seemingly nonexistent security.

The space around her on all sides was just a lot of blankness; grayish and featureless ground with the occasional storage area spiking up from it in a swirling green mass. She always thought that it was interesting how the mind interpreted the digital space from within, especially since she would probably never be able to share this experience with anyone.

As she again started to let her mind drift, and also slowly lowered her guard, she heard something that made her snap back to reality.

"Strange, isn't it?" a voice called from behind her. She spun around as fast as possible, her breath catching in her throat as she tried to identify the source.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing: a young hedgehog was standing not five feet from her. He was green, wore a gray shirt and red pants, and had a pair of red and white shoes to complete the look. He also had a big pair of headphones hung around his neck.

"Who are you?" She asked, trying to understand what she was seeing.

"Hey, how are ya? My name's Tyler, but most people call me Pixel." The hedgehog replied with a smirk.

"Pixel?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah, Pixel. 'Cause, ya know... I'm digital and stuff." He replied.

"Right... Hi. My name's Nicole." She asked, only now starting to wrap her mind around what was happening.

She hesitated a bit before saying: "How did you get here?"

"The same way you did I would guess. Some kind of weird disease where the only cure was to throw me into the computer head first and hope I survived." He stated rather bluntly.

Nicole giggled. "That's a rather straightforward way to put it. Yeah, that's what happened to me too. I had heard that there was another successful test, which was obviously you. But, if you were digitized like me, in the hospital, then how did you end up in Robotnik's system?" She asked, trying to piece together the last of this puzzle.

"Oh, that's an easy one! When I was 'assimilated', my father took me out of the hospital and transferred me into the server at his business where he taught me some things about it so that I could help him out. The rest of my family would come and visit from time to time while I was there, and, eventually I got used to it. But, when the Big Guy took over, he set up shop in my father's old building and reused his servers for his own purposes. I hid for a while before I finally learned how to get around in here without being detected." Tyler explained in a more serious tone.

"I'm sorry, that must've been hard for you." Nicole sympathized. "Do you know what happened to your family?"

"Well, if what happened to everyone else is anything to go by, then I'd say they're probably Robo-zombies by now." He replied.

"I'm truly sorry, I know it was hard for me when Robotnik took over. I can imagine how you probably felt." She said in a somber and empathetic tone.

"Welp, at least it's not boring!" He said back, his chipper tone returned in full.

"Yeah, I'm sure it isn't." She replied with a smile.

"That having been said, how did you get here madam?" He asked her in an overly polite tone, taking a slight bow as he did so.

"Ok, first; never do that again." She said, trying to keep herself from laughing.

"Duly noted, you may continue." He stated quickly, nodding his head.

"I never left the hospital after I was digitized. I stayed there until Robotnik invaded. When I realized what was happening, and that I couldn't stay, I jumped from terminal to terminal until I found a computer in an abandoned subway station. Once I got there, I disconnected the subway computers from the rest of the network, allowing me to stay down there where it was safe. Eventually, a group of individuals stumbled into the subway, and I guided them to the abandoned station where I had located myself. A few weeks later I helped them to take down one of Robotnik's factories, but, in the process, we got separated, and so I had to hide myself in here." She explained.

"And so... here you are!" He said in finality.

"Yep, here I am." She replied with a shrug.

She thought for a moment, then spoke just as the silence started to stale. "Well, since you've been here for a while, could you show me around? This IS Robotnik's network after all, I'm sure there's a lot of juicy stuff to find in here."

"Yeah, sure. Follow me." He replied, gesturing for Her to follow.

She followed Him for a long while before they finally came to a stop in front of a set of screens. Various images were displayed on each of them... Images of the real world.

"Are these security camera feeds?" She asked.

"Yep, straight from the middle of Robotnik's base." He replied with a smile.

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" She said jokingly as she started moving her eyes from screen to screen.

She looked at screen after screen, studying them as best she could and trying to see what secrets Robotnik might be hiding. What she saw on the second screen stole her attention for a couple of moments as she tried to process what was displayed. It was Bunnie, unconscious, and being hauled into a room with those Roboticizing packs hanging ominously on the walls just waiting for someone to be converted.

"Oh no! Bunnie!" Nicole exclaimed. She moved toward the screen, thinking hard about what she could do for her friend.

Pixel looked over at Nicole, watching the horrified look on her face turn into determination. He turned back to the screen to see that the two Robians who'd brought Bunnie into the room had left to get something.

"Alright," Nicole said, "I should be able to shut and lock the doors to that room from here. That should buy Her some time."

"If you do that," Pixel reminded Her, "then Robotnik's antivirus program will know where we're at, it'll be on us in seconds." He wasn't harsh to her, but this was not something to take lightly!

"I have to," She replied somberly, "I can't let Her be turned into one of those... things."

"Alright, I understand." He replied, "But get ready to run! And make it snappy!"

Nicole concentrated, trying to find the controls for the doors in that room. She searched for a moment, then found them! She grabbed hold of a lever, pulling it down and thus shutting the doors in the room. Then she locked them by pressing a button nearby and turned to face Pixel.

"Ok, let's go!" She said quickly as she turned to run away. And not a moment too soon! A large, hulking figure appeared not far away and started running towards them with incredible speed!

"Is that the antivirus?" She asked, her gaze drifting over her shoulder to look at the imposing figure moving ever closer toward them.

"Yep; the last time I had a run-in with it, I barely escaped!" He replied.

"Where do we hide?" She asked, the stress of the situation showing in her voice.

"We don't! Look around, there's nothing to hide behind! We're in an empty space!" He was nearly shouting now, as the lumbering footsteps of the antivirus continued to get closer and louder.

"Then what do we do?" She asked, her eyes becoming wide in fear.

"We jump to another system on the network, follow me!" He shouted over the thunderous footsteps. Then he turned and ran for a glowing sphere not far away. He jumped in without any hesitation, his body stretching and warping before shooting off into the distance as he was transferred to another system on the network.

Nicole did not hesitate either, she likewise jumped in and flashed across a great distance and into another system.


	15. Season 1 - Episode 15: Breaking in

**Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 - Ep. 15**

Sonic dashed from bush to bush, trying to reach Robotnik's tower undetected. He was using his speed to remain nearly invisible to the naked eye, though he wasn't sure how the Robian's eyes would do if they were looking in his direction. He hid around the corner of a building only half a block to the east of the tower and stopped for the first time to take a look at what he was heading towards.

The tower was absolutely massive! He didn't remember seeing anything nearly that tall and imposing before Robotnik took over the city. It was at least eighty stories, though there could likely have been more as he didn't really count them. It was cylindrical in shape, slowly narrowing towards the top, had four elevators evenly spaced around the outside running frantically towards the top levels, and it was humming with life as both Robians and S.W.A.T. Bots were moving around the exterior.

Sonic whistled softly to himself; this wasn't going to be easy, but he had to do it! This was for his friends! Taking in a deep breath, he headed towards the tower, ready to take on anything he came across.

* * *

"Sir, there's a hedgehog moving towards the tower at an incredible velocity." Snively said in his signature monotone way.

"Let him come Snively, and recall the S.W.A.T. Bots inside the tower." Robotnik replied calmly.

"I'm sorry sir, but why would I do that? Don't we want to stop the hedgehog?" Snively asked, confusion showing in his voice.

"Oh, of course. But we need to stop his friends as well. After all, he is just a distraction." Robotnik said confidently.

It was a gamble, Snively knew that all too well, but it was a good one. They knew there were several members in this resistance group, including the Princess. It only made sense that the rest of them would be coming as well. At the same time they coiuldn't completely ignore the problem at hand, they had to take care of the hedgehog. But they needed to be ready for phase two, whatever it may be.

* * *

Sonic closed the manhole cover over his head and stared down at the sewage below his feet. All kinds of unspeakable material floating down a soggy stream just inches below his feet. He resisted the urge to gag and looked ahead down the tunnel.

The old sewer that ran below the city was long and winding, very mazelike in fact. It ran under most of the downtown area and had several access points through the streets and even in the basements of some buildings. He was hoping that the building Robotnik had taken over had an access point in it, or, at the very least, that the building next to it did.

Taking a deep, musty breath, he started forwards toward where the tower should be. It only took a moment for him to reach his destination, even at the average jogging pace he was making. Reaching up over his head, he lifted the manhole and stepped out into a room that was cold and moist.

The fluorescent lights overhead were flickering like they always did when they were on their last leg, and looking over at the wall, he noticed mildew climbing up from the damp concrete ground at least a foot or so.

A cold drop of water dropped onto his head and he looked up to spot some old copper pipes overhead, carrying something cold inside them (most likely water).Then, turning his head to the side, he saw that there was one door in this room, an old metal one at the far end of the room, painted a rusty red and bearing the sign: "Authorized Personel Only" on it.

He moved towards the door and put an ear up to it to make sure that there was no one on the other side who would notice his departure from this concealed spot. He waited for a handful of heartbeats, and when he heard nothing, he stepped out into an old concrete-walled hallway that was no doubt in the basement of whichever building he'd ended up in. The door behind him swung shut on its own, shutting with a resounding thud that echoed down the hallway and made him jump slightly.

He looked back and forth down this long corridor, trying to see if anyone was coming to drag him off. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding; there was nothing. Sighing deeply, he started to move down one side of the corridor towards a light.

Reaching the light only a moment later, he saw an elevator sitting in front of him, an "Out of Order" sign emblazoned upon it. He reached out and grabbed hold of the two dull blue-grey doors and pried them open, the doors squaking in protest as he did so.

He poked his head inside the elevator shaft and looked up at the empty space above. He saw cables and various conduits running up the side of the shaft all the way from the top to the bottom, which was where the elevator car lay, its cable frayed but still connected. He ran his eyes back to the top of the elevator shaft where he spotted yet another door across the shaft.

Maneuvering his body to be inside the shaft and reaching out across the gap to the conduits on the other side, Sonic slowly climbed towards the doors over his head. When he reached them, he pried the doors open. It took a considerable effort since he only had one hand to use, as the other hand was still holding him up.

He pressed himself through the narrow gap in the doorway and stepped out into a sterile hallway with white walls and tile floor, doors on both sides of the hallway spaced out evenly. It was also brightly lit, a welcome rest from the dark and dingy areas he'd been in for a while.

He walked forward down the hallway and turned a corner to face several S.W.A.T. Bots standing in front of him. He was shocked! He'd been found out already? Oh well, he was only supposed to be a distraction anyway. Looking at the S.W.A.T. Bots standing in front of him, Sonic decided now would be a good time to take his leave.

* * *

"Are you sure about this Princess?" Rotor asked, a note of hesitation in his voice.

"Absolutely. Apart from the sewer, this is the best way to get in the building that isn't the front door. Sonic took the sewer, so we're taking the chute." Sally said pointing overhead at the perfectly vertical garbage chute.

"I am not liking zis my Princess!" Antoine protested, "Zis could be quite ze unsanitary path for us."

"Grow up Antoine, Sonic took the sewers." Sally spoke aloud, then paused a moment to think before growing a smirk and continuing: "He's sooo brave for taking the sewers, the muck doesn't slow him down one bit..." She was overselling it on purpose and the rest of them knew it. It still managed to get under Antoine's skin.

"Hmmf... I will show zat Edgehog who es de boss!" He replied with a harumpf in his tone.

Antoine hated being outdone by anyone else. It was one of the few things that could get him to work through his various anxieties and phobias. Sally had learned to exploit this to her advantage, getting Antoine to do things that he otherwise wouldn't.

And so the group shimmied up the chute one by one. Antoine went first, followed by Sally, Rotor, Knuckles, and Tails bringing up the rear.

Sally raised her head from the ground as she collected herself, only to wish she hadn't! There were S.W.A.T. Bots standing all around them and Robians behind them. Sally dropped her head a little; was there a way out of this? As she began fearing the inevitable, Knuckles charged forward at one of the S.W.A.T. Bots, swinging ferociously.

He hit one of the S.W.A.T. Bots in the side of the head, causing it to... tip slightly... then it straightened.

Sally sighed. Wasn't Knuckles the guy who ripped off the top of a tank? These S.W.A.T. Bots were made out of some impressively tough stuff!

Knuckles reeled, holding on to his right hand as he backed away from the S.W.A.T. Bot. He was grimacing in both frustration and pain. He looked back over his shoulder at the group standing behind him, watching the chute they'd come through close to prevent their escape.

"Now what?" Tails asked, a quiver in his tone.

Sally looked around at all of her friends, Tails wide-eyed, Knuckles holding his hand, Rotor backed up against the wall and staring at the S.W.A.T. Bots, and Antoine passed out on the floor from fear.

"I don't know Tails." Sally said dropping her head in defeat.

When she lifted her head again, she saw the Robians moving forward towards them. Her mind racing, she took a deep breath and waited for the inevitable.


	16. Season 1 - Episode 16: Going Viral

**Sonic Haven Ssn.1 – Ep. 16**

"Over here!" Tyler shouted at the top of his lungs.

Nicole turned towards him and ran at top speed, jumping over a block on her way over to him. The clean, white, digital environment that surrounded them was vastly different from the last computer they'd been in. This one had blocks of data rising up from the ground like towers, all in close proximity to each other.

As she rounded the corner and ducked behind Tyler, the large antivirus stormed past behind them. She waited until it had moved a considerable distance away, then let the air out of her chest in relief.

"Are we ever gonna get out of here?" Nicole asked in defeat, "It's been days."

Tyler shook his head, a smirk plastered on his face.

"What?" She asked, trying to understand what he thought was funny.

"I guess you don't know, let me show you." He said as he walked over to one of the towers and placed his hand on the side of it.

A screen popped up on the side of the tower, showing the outside of the real world building this terminal was located in. Looking closely, Nicole could see several S.W.A.T. Bots surrounding the tower and moving in a loose patrol of the grounds. At least, that's what they should've been doing. Nicole stared at the screen in concentration, focusing on the S.W.A.T. Bots in particular, something was off. Then she spotted the problem, they weren't moving!

"So is this a picture of the outside or what?" She asked, gesturing towards the screen.

Tyler's smirk grew a little wider as he shook his head. "Nope, keep looking at the screen." He told her.

She turned her head back toward the screen, studying it carefully to see what he was talking about. Then, suddenly, she saw it. When she glanced back, the S.W.A.T. Bots had moved, turning toward the building and taking a step or so.

"What?" She wondered aloud.

"You're in Robotnik's main supercomputer. With the extra processing power, you're thinking incredibly fast as compared to the real world. So the real world looks like it's moving really slowly right now, but it's not. It's actually moving at normal speed." He said, before adding: "At least compared to us. It's probably only been an hour or so out there, I'm not entirely sure how the math works out as I've never actually spent more than a few minutes here."

"Wait," Nicole said, taking a step back as everything started to come together, "This is Robotnik's main supercomputer?"

"Yeah, a lot of his primary systems run through here somewhere. They're all over the place though." He replied, rubbing his chin as he tried to think of something that would be close to them that he could use as an example.

"Wow!" She said excitedly, "Think of what we could find in here! Think of the damage to Robotnik's systems we could do!"

"Yeah, don't get your hopes up too high," He said in an attempt to bring her back down to reality, "I wouldn't recommend messing with the Robian's settings anytime soon. You wouldn't want to accidentally kill somebody!"

She calmed noticeably. "Yeah, point taken."

They started to walk away as Tyler turned to her. "One more thing," He said, hoping that she would understand, "Any damage that we do will just get undone by Robotnik or his Antivirus' damaged file repair function after we leave."

"Well, maybe we could take some data with us? Like maybe the schematics for the S.W.A.T. Bots or the Robian suits?" She asked hopefully.

"Possible, but that kind of data pull will put up red flags all over Robotnik's system. If you really want to try something like that, then you'll have to take out the Antivirus that's been following us around for the last few days." He replied. "Then you'd have to book it out of the system before the other security systems kick in."

He could tell by her expression that she understood perfectly. The two of them picked up the pace as she continued to think about what he'd told her. So much potential in this place, so much she could do for her friends, so much good she could accomplish. There had to be something she could do! She ran the last thing he said through her mind again, replaying it and finding her answer.

"Then we destroy the Antivirus." She said, hitting her fist into her open palm for emphasis.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked her.

"You asked me the same question when we saw Bunnie on that camera, remember? What did I say then?" She said, not being harsh, but trying to make a point.

"Yeah, I kinda did, didn't I? Why are you so gung-ho on helping these guys?" He asked.

"I think the better question is why aren't you? These guys are my friends, I have a responsibility to help them; and, more importantly, I have a responsibility to do the right thing. Why don't you want to help?" She said, a challenging tone in her voice.

"You know what, you're right. And I'm sorry." He said, coming to a stop and dropping his head. "I've spent the last few years of my life just trying to stay out of trouble. I guess I should try to do more, but I know that if I do something drastic, Robotnik will retaliate. I don't think I'd be able to survive a full-on extermination routine. Maybe I should've tried anyway, if only because I could." His tone was very somber, almost defeated.

Nicole's face softened noticeably. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings, but the fact that he'd been here for years and not done anything bothered her. Maybe he was right for not trying. After all, had he done something, it very likely would've ended his life as he said.

She thought about it for a while before a realization slapped her across her face: he said he'd been in here for years, but Robotnik had only been in charge for about a month. "You said years... why? It's only been a month or so that Robotnik has been in charge."

His head lifted slightly before he replied. Though when he spoke, his tone was still soft. "This is Robotnik's main supercomputer," He said, "but there are tons of them around the city. I've been all over the place trying to hide from his Antivirus programs, and I've been mostly successful. I'm not entirely sure how the time measures out when you account for the accelerated awareness that comes with living inside a super computer, but it's been a long time since Robotnik set up shop here. At least a couple of years, maybe more."

She pulled her hand to her mouth in shock. She hadn't realized that he'd been in here for so long.

"I'm sorry," She said, an empathetic expression on her face, "I didn't mean that you needed to risk your life. I just thought that if it had been me trapped in here that I would have done something. But I think you're right. I think that if you had done something to Robotnik's computer that you would have died. And you're wrong; sometimes the risks outweigh the benefits. What you've learned about Robotnik and his computer systems is invaluable information! If you had died trying to do something, I would probably be dead now. And all of the information that you have collected over the last few years would all be lost."

She reached out and put her right hand on his left shoulder. She took a deep breath, then she spoke. "I'm glad that you're still alive to help me, so let's just forget what either of us should have or shouldn't have done and work on the here and now. Agreed?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, let's do that."

She moved her hand from his shoulder back to her side, then she asked: "So what do we do?"

He straightened, then said: "I think I might have an idea, but first I need to show you something."

He walked over to an empty space, raised his hand, and closed his eyes. At first, nothing happened. He held the pose for a moment, and took a breath as a column of data rose to touch his hand. Nicole was speechless.

"How did you...?" She let her sentence hang in the air.

"You can create data and manipulate it, all you have to do is will it into existence." He replied in a cool tone.

"Really? That will definitely be useful!" She replied.

"Yeah, you bet it can. But only if you know how to use it properly. You think you can do it?" He asked her, a strong note of confidence now in his voice.

"Absolutely!" She replied, echoing his tone.

"Alright then, let's kick some Antivirus butt!" He exclaimed.

* * *

Pixel rounded the corner in a hurry, a hulking figure coming around behind him. He hurdled over a low block and continued to charge ahead as the Antivirus behind him loomed ever closer. He yelled out ahead of him: "It's coming!"

"Gotcha." Nicole yelled back standing behind a block of data.

"I really hope you're ready," Tyler called out, "this thing is gaining on me!"

"Trust me! Just run!" She yelled as he came within sight of her.

Tyler ducked his head and ran as fast as he could, booking it for the safety of the tall stacks of data ahead of him. As he crossed in front of Nicole, she created a block of data right beside herself, then cut the data, letting it fall down on top of the Antivirus. It wasn't going to stop the Antivirus for long as it was only data, but it was enough. Tyler came to a sliding halt not far from her, then ran back to help her.

The two of them stood in front of the Antivirus as it started to collect itself from the fall it had taken. They then started removing pieces of the Antivirus, one chunk at a time, deconstructing the program until there was nothing left of it. Finally, all of the pieces seemed to disintegrate in front of them, truly removing the program from the system. They'd successfully taken down the Antivirus.

Nicole gasped in surprise at what they'd just done. She then grabbed hold of Tyler's shoulder and started bouncing up and down gleefully and shouting in joy.

"We did it!" She exclaimed. She let go of Tyler's shoulder, then she continued: "We did it, we did it, we did it." Dancing as she repeated the mantra in a low, rhythmic fashion.

"Yeah, we did it. Now we need to take care of whatever it is we need to do before Robotnik discovers what happened." He reminded her, curbing her enthusiasm.

"Oh come on, don't be so glum. What are you, a pessimist?" Nicole asked teasingly, bumping his shoulder.

Tyler rubbed his shoulder in mock-hurt as he replied. "Nope, but I am a realist. So what do you want to do?"

"I have an idea. First, let's take a look at what Sonic is doing and see if he needs our help." She said.

"Good idea, let's see." He replied as he brought up the displays of the various security cameras around Robotnik's base.

The two of them both scanned the screens as they looked for Sonic and the others. Nicole pointed at one of the screens as she spoke, "There, Sonic is surrounded by S.W.A.T. Bots!"

"And over here the rest of your friends seem to be surrounded by S.W.A.T. Bots as well." Tyler responded.

"I'll take care of Sonic, you take care of the rest of them." She said commandingly.

Tyler nodded and they went to work. She started flashing the lights in the corridor above the S.W.A.T. Bots, distracting them and allowing Sonic the window he needed to get passed them. Meanwhile, Tyler opened the garbage chute in the wall, allowing the Freedom Fighters to retreat back down the chute they'd climbed up.

"OK, Sonic is clear for now." Nicole said over her shoulder.

"Ditto over here." Tyler replied. "We're not in the clear yet, we need to help them get Bunnie out."

"Yeah, I know. And thank you for doing this." She said, a softer tone in her voice.

"For what?" He asked.

"For helping me help them. You know as well as I do that once Robotnik figures out what we've done that he'll come down on us with full force. If that happens and the others haven't figured out a way to get us out of here, then we're both dead. So, thanks." She said in a rather serious tone.

"No problem. At least I'll have done something before I kick the bucket. Well, you know, other than curing NIDS." He said in an unimpressed tone.

"You what?" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, I dug into my own coding and removed the damaged parts of my code. In doing so, I should have gotten rid of the virus. The problem is that the scientist who put us in here is dead, and with him died the hopes of us getting back out." He explained calmly.

"Still, that's pretty cool. Do you think you could fix me?" She asked.

He looked a little shocked. "Why? It's not like we're ever getting out of here?" He asked curiously.

"Because you don't know that. If we ever do get the chance to go back to reality, I would like to know that I've been cured of NIDS. If you don't mind that is..." She said in a more positive tone.

"Sure," He said, closing his eyes for a second. He opened them a moment later, a smile on his face. "There you go."

"That's it?" She asked. "No elaborate procedure involving hours of digging through code?"

"Nope. it was difficult for me, but I'd already isolated the lines of code connected to the virus, so removing it from you was pretty easy." He said in an overly humble tone.

Nicole ran across the short distance between the two of them and embraced Tyler in a surprise hug. He took a step back in shock as she latched onto him, not realizing what he'd just done for her fully. She quickly let go, trying to express her thanks without making it awkward between them.

"Thank you," she said as she stepped back over to the camera displays she'd just left, "That means a lot to me."

"Obviously." He said chuckling.

The two of them then proceeded to settle in for the long haul as they would try to help Sonic and the others rescue Bunnie and get out of Robotnik's tower. They could only hope that they would leave with them.


	17. Season 1 - Episode 17: Ace in the Sleeve

**Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 17**

Sonic stared at the S.W.A.T. Bots, wondering what he was supposed to do. Just as he started to give up hope, he noticed the lights above his head flashing. The S.W.A.T. Bots all looked up at the lights in confusion, giving Sonic the opportunity that he needed to get passed them. He made sure to make use of it, blasting through the hallway and ripping through the air, creating a wake of turbulence behind him. He made his way to the end of the tunnel and into the stairway, running up to the next floor. He searched every room at supersonic speed, then moved to the next floor, then the next, and the next. He searched all the way to the top until he was forced to stop due to a barrier forming around him and locking him in place.

Sonic looked around the room as he caught his breath. There were computer screens everywhere, all of them showing something different. Huge pipes and conduits ran overhead and tile floor ran along the ground. As his eyes traced the floor, they hit a large chair towards the back of the room, upon which was seated a large man with a bushy mustache and red-black eyes. Sonic recognized him as Julian Robotnik, the man responsible for all that had destroyed his life.

"You..." Sonic said with contempt weighing heavily in his voice. "You're the madman responsible for this. How do you live with yourself?" He exclaimed.

Robotnik just stared back at him with a highly composed expression on his face. "It's nice to meet you too, you terrorist." He said with contempt.

"Terrorist? Oh, that's rich coming from you doc!" Sonic said with a smirk, "I do believe it was you that turned everyone into his own Tamagotchi army, wasn't it?"

"Silence you insignificant mongrel! I've captured you, and soon, I'll have your friends! Once that happens, nothing will stand between me and progress towards a perfect society!" Robotnik replied.

"Perfect society? Seriously? You're enslaving people! Forcing them to do whatever you want! That's not a perfect society! That's a synthetic army!" Sonic exclaimed, a note of disgust creeping into his tone.

"Hah! That's the point. You see, society has always had a problem. No mater how similar people are or seem to be, everyone is always working towards a different agenda." Robotnik started to reply. "Politicians, activists, the common person, everyone wants something different. And they all can only do so much due to a limit on their energies and time. I have removed all of those problems! Now all of society can work together and accomplish great things without having to worry about themselves. Just look at what I've created! In one month I've completely transformed this city into a workforce that rivals an entire country's!"

"You used to be looking out for people and what was best for them, weren't you? My uncle told me that you used to work for the military before you decided that you didn't want your creations to hurt people; what changed?" Sonic asked.

"All of what you just said is true, but my viewpoint of what was best for people changed. When we were having problems with the RCS component on the Robot Suits, I started thinking of ways that we could get around it. The thought that came to mind as the easiest solution was to simply remove the brain interface, and then to put the user inside into stasis. That way, you could still use the person for the betterment of others' lives. But nobody wanted to see it my way. They refused to see the benefits of such an arrangement. I wanted to prove my point, but why stop with just the disabled? Such a small group. Why not expand the focus to include everyone in the city and get them to all work for one purpose? That's what I've done! I've created a thing of beauty! If you have a problem with it, that's not any concern of mine. And soon you'll be working with all of the others!" Robotnik said in a rather enthusiastic tone.

Sonic had a look that was a combination of both disappointment and disgust on his face. He shook his head, then looked at Robotnik. "You really have lost it doc. It's a shame. According to my uncle, you were a pretty good person."

"I'm still the same person, I've just been enlightened!" Robotnik retaliated.

"I seriously disagree!" Sonic replied.

* * *

Bunnie looked around at the room she had just woken up in, trying to remember what happened to her. She seemed to remember something to do with a S.W.A.T. Bot... um... and Robians, yeah, they were involved too. And something about a factory. That's right, she was on a mission to shut down one of Robotnik's factories when she was suddenly launched into the air and landed hard. That was the last thing that she could remember.

She stood up from the table she'd been laying on... and put a hand to her head as the room started to spin. As she stepped away from the table, she felt her arm jerked back and she looked at it to find a tube going from her arm back to some kind of canister on the table beside her. It had a viscous green fluid inside of it. Had she been drugged as well to keep her down? Must've been. But, why had it stopped?

She looked closer at the canister of disgusting juices and noticed that the display on the top said "EMERGENCY STOP ACTIVATED." She thought that that was odd, until the message changed. "HI BUNNIE, I'M HERE TO HELP." She continued to watch until she saw it change again to say: "MY NAME'S TYLER, I'M WORKING WITH NICOLE." She let a breath out of her chest. At least it was a friend on the other side. Now she had a chance to get out of here! She just needed some help.

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she heard a banging on the closed door. Her captors were apparently trying to get back into the room! She decided to brace the door with something, anything! She grabbed the table, flipped it onto it's side, and slid it over to the wall in front of the door. And just in time, as the Robian hand that had been banging on the door suddenly burst through and started grabbing for her. She screamed in surprise as it threw a backpack like object through the hole it'd made.

She watched the backpack for a moment, waiting to see what would happen, until suddenly, the backpack moved! It sprouted arms and legs and it then started making its way toward her! She kicked at it to keep it away. It twisted and stuttered in its gait, but continued forward undeterred. She backed away from it until she hit her back against the wall. She looked at the backpack in fear as it loomed ever closer, threatening to turn her into one of those things!

She ripped a pipe off of the wall, though it took all of her effort. She then smacked the backpack away with a vicious swing, knocking it to the other side of the room. The light on the top turned from red to green, then back to red. Then the pack reached over and grabbed a pipe of its own.

"Ah can't believe that Ah'm fightin' a blasted backpack! Mah life has certainly gotten weird!" She said to herself as it came at her with the pipe in its substitute hand.

* * *

"We need to get back in there!" Knuckles excaimed, a sharp contrast to his usually quiet self.

"I know, but we can't exactly go back up the garbage chute now, can we?" Sally asked in an irritated tone.

We can't let Robotnik win! Even the slightest victory is unacceptable! He can already mop the floor with us, we can't let him get any more momentum!" Knuckles was borderline irate, yelling at Sally and the rest of the team.

"Listen, I agree that we need to get in there. I agree that we can't let Robotnik have any victory. But yelling at me won't help!" She retorted sternly.

"If I may," Rotor interjected, "Knuckles, they already know we're here. Our surprise attack is over, so just smash the wall."

"I do believe he es aving ze point." Antoine added skittishly.

"Do it." Sally said succinctly.

Knuckles nodded his head, then pulled back his arm and let loose a furious punch that took out a five-square-foot chunk of the wall next to them. The group quickly moved through the generous opening and back into the building they'd just escaped.

"Alright, we need to move before the S.W.A.T. Bots figure out where we are. Let's go." Sally commanded.

The team moved through the hole in the wall and made their way inside. They wasted no time standing around, immediately beginning to dash through the halls. As they ran inside, the S.W.A.T. Bots began to catch on quickly. They turned one corner to see the Bots coming after them, forcing them to turn around. They ran down the hall and turned another corner to find the same thing. Finally, they came to a T-shaped intersection, the hallway splitting off to their right and left, S.W.A.T. Bots painting the corridor on either side.

"We are being doomed!" Antoine exclaimed as he began trembling with fear.

"Not yet!" Knuckles said as he punched through the wall in front of them, creating yet another exit.

They again moved quickly through the hole and scrambled through the hallway on the other side of the wall, but not for long. They were again cornered by S.W.A.T. Bots only moments later.

Sally dropped her head in defeat. They'd done all they could, now it was looking like Bunnie wasn't the only one in need of saving.

* * *

"You see Sonic? Your friends will also soon be part of my army. And when that happens, you will join them." Robotnik said menacingly. He then turned towards someone standing in front of a terminal. "Snively, you know those pesky programs that have been running amok in the mainframe?"

"Yes sir. Do you want me to exterminate them now?" Snively asked.

"Yes Snively. Release Swarm." Robotnik said, growling out his words.

"Of course sir." Snively said, already plucking away at the keys on his keyboard.

"What's Swarm?" Sonic demanded.

"You'll see soon enough hedgehog." Robotnik said contemptuously.

* * *

Nicole jumped slightly at the noise she heard from behind her. "Please tell me that was you being funny." She pleaded with Tyler.

"I wish it was." Tyler responded hesitantly.

"Then what was it?" She asked.

"Probably something bad. Keep your eyes open." He said.

The two of them waited as the hum that came from behind them slowly became a clattering. They turned toward the source and watched as a shadowy figure shuffled toward them. It was about as big as they were, and wasn't moving very fast. It was pitch black from head to toe, save for glowing yellow eyes, and otherwise virtually featureless.

"What is that?" Nicole asked apprehensively.

Before Tyler could respond, another came into view. Then another, and another. Suddenly, their view was filled with copies of this thing; hundreds of them, maybe more.

"Oh shoot!" Tyler exclaimed as he turned to grab Nicole's arm. "We need to go!"

Nicole didn't protest as he started to drag her away from the swarm of things shambling towards them.

"Do you know what that is?" She asked.

"Actually I do. I came across it when it was in its dormant state a few months back. It's called Swarm." He started to explain.

"All of that is one thing?" Nicole asked quizzically.

"Yeah, kinda. More like several copies of one thing. Swarm is an incredibly simple program designed to attack any target Robotnik gives it and continue making copies of itself until it eliminates the target." Tyler explained.

"And we're the target." She said. It wasn't a question.

"You got it." He said, his lack of hope starting to show in his voice.

"Then what do we do?" She asked.

"Simple. We keep running until one of your friends gets us out." He said quickly as they turned a corner and kept running.

"And if they don't?" She asked.

"Let's just hope they do." He said, his tone implying that she not ask any further questions.

They ran into a rather compact part of the system, blocks of data rising up all around them and whizzing by as they ran through. As they continued to run, Nicole looked back at Swarm. At they pace they were running, they should have been breaking away. Instead, Swarm was keeping up with them and had maybe gained a step or two. She wondered how it was keeping up with them until she saw what it was doing. Swarm was copying itself and putting those copies in the front of the crowd so it could copy those and move them farther ahead yet. Almost like Swarm was leap-frogging itself to keep up.

She felt her breath catch in her throat. What would they do if Sonic and the others didn't get them out? Could they defeat Swarm like they defeated the Antivirus? She honestly didn't know.

* * *

"Swarm deployed sir." Snively said as he turned towards Robotnik.

"Excellent Snively. And what of the hedgehog's friends here in the tower?" Robotnik asked.

"They've been captured and are being taken to Roboticization sir." Snively replied.

"Very good Snively." Robotnik said, his low voice bounding off of the walls and reverberating in Sonic's ears.

Sonic turned to look at Robotnik before the doctor began speaking to him. "You see hedgehog? Your friends are finished! What will you do now?" Robotnik taunted.

"You're right doc, you got 'em. Except for one thing." Sonic said with a competitive tone.

"What's that?" Robotnik asked as he looked at the hedgehog to see what he was planning.

"I don't play fair. Because like anyone who doesn't really expect to win, I like to keep an ace up my sleeve!" Sonic taunted.

* * *

Max and Tiara jumped down from the vent in the ceiling over the roboticization chamber and landed only a couple of feet away from Bunnie. They turned toward her and watched in horror as a Roboticizer Pack had her pinned down and had attached itself to her back. Max dashed over to her and struggled with the device, trying to free her from its grip. It was all to no avail. Bunnie was being overwhelmed by the device and would soon be a Robian.

Max refused to accept defeat, searching up and down for any way to stop the device. Finally, he found something! An emergency stop button was located just under her neck on the top of the device. He pressed the button just as the device began to move up her neck, causing it to stop just shy of her head. However, the device didn't unhook itself from her.

"Guys, what's goin' on back there?" Bunnie asked, a note of terror in her voice.

"I hit the emergency stop, but it's not disconnecting." Max explained.

"Ah think Ah know why. It feels like someone's got a needle pressed into mah neck" Bunnie explained.

"Then it must have already connected itself to her nervous system." Tiara concluded.

"Can you move?" Max asked.

"No, Ah don't think so. Ah can't feel mah arms or legs." Bunnie said in a sour tone.

"Great." Max said sarcastically. He turned to look at Tiara, who was moving towards some kind of console. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"There's a terminal over here. Maybe I can figure out something over here." She said.

The moment she touched the keys, text appeared on the screen. She read it quickly and then gasped.

"What?" Max asked as he turned toward her.

"I found Nicole, she's in the system." Tiara said excitedly.

"Great, maybe she can help." Max said hopefully.

"I don't think so, She's being chased. She needs a way out. Man, I wish Sally was here! She's the one with the handheld after all." Tiara sighed.

"We don't have much time!" Max said, pointing at the door at the end of the room.

As he finished his sentence, a large metallic fist came through the door, knocking it clean off the wall. Several Robians and a S.W.A.T. Bot were standing on the other side. Max wasn't concerned about them though. He was rather concerned about the bright green glow coming from the door down the hall.


	18. Season 1 - Episode 18: Chaos Gene

**Sonic Haven Season 1 – Episode 18**

Tyler jumped across the gap in front of him and over to the top of another data block as he and Nicole continued to try to stay away from Swarm. They'd been forced to move to an upper level and run along the tops of the data blocks to avoid Swarm, who'd taken over the lower areas.

Looking over the edge, Tyler stared into a black sea with glowing yellow dots splattered all over the top of it. He couldn't believe how many copies of Swarm there were. Nicole was sitting only a few feet away, shuddering and closed off, obviously terrified of the thing that had been chasing them. Unlike the Antivirus, Swarm was everywhere; there was no hiding from it.

He looked over the edge again at the rising pool of darkness that threatened to engulf them in a few minutes. Then he looked back at Nicole. She was staring straight ahead and was holding herself as if trying to protect herself from a stiff winter breeze that didn't exist.

He moved over to her and sat down beside her, waiting for her to speak. Slowly, she raised her head up, taking her chin off of her chest so that she could talk clearly. When she did speak, her voice was cold and distant.

"Is there anything we can do? I don't think waiting is enough." Her voice was drug out and sluggish, as if she was fighting sleep.

"I don't know." He confessed. "We're out of places to run, and I don't know if we can fight this thing."

"There must be something we can do." She started to say. "What about that thing we did with the Antivirus? The data that we cut to knock it down and dismantle the program? That seemed to work pretty well there, what if we did that again?"

"No, Swarm has too many copies. It wouldn't work." He said in a defeated tone.

"Then..." Her voice hung in the air, trying to will an answer into existence. What could they do? Was there any solution? Maybe, she thought, this was where their stories ended. If they couldn't use the data creation and manipulation trick to their advantage then... Wait!

"Tyler, we can create data that manifests itself as a large block right?" She asked with a more excited tone.

"Yeah..." He replied, not seeing where she was going with this.

"Well, we're data too! So is Swarm! Obviously data can be created to be more than just a big white tower of information. Why not create a data packet that can function like a bridge, or a wall, or a car, or even a flamethrower or something?" She asked with enthusiasm.

Tyler's ears perked up. He held out his hand in front of him and tried to focus, concentrating on making a baseball bat in his hand. Something simple should be fairly easy right? Then, suddenly, there it was! A baseball bat appeared in his hand out of thin air! He stared at it in disbelief.

"You are a genius!" He exclaimed.

She turned her head to look over the edge, though more to hide the reddish hue on her cheeks than to check on Swarm's progress. Once she collected herself, she turned back to look at Tyler, who was standing up in the middle of this square tower and holding his hand out to make something else.

She watched as he concentrated on the space in front of him, trying to muster something obviously much more complicated into existence. Then, a jetpack appeared in front of his hand.

"We can use this to get by Swarm." He said. "We still might not be able to beat it, but if we can make it to a removable drive, we can disconnect from the main system and keep ourselves away from Swarm!" It wasn't much, but at least they had a plan. And, for the first time in a while, they also had hope!

They took off, Tyler wearing the jetpack and carrying Nicole in his arms. They flew over the sea of black, flying through the air for several minutes until they finally reached the other side of the Swarm. They landed with a thud, but kept on running towards the removable drive Tyler had talked about earlier.

Nicole looked back behind them, trying to see what Swarm was doing to adjust to their newfound escape. It was again copying the frontrunners in an effort to keep up with them.

She threw up her hand and created a wall behind them, knocking down several of Swarm's copies. Still, she knew it wouldn't be enough. Swarm was even now compensating for the newfound obstacle, and was once again starting to catch up to them.

Swarm caught up to them and started to pin them, creeping up on either side of them and forcing them to stop running. Nicole looked around at the many Swarms around them, wondering how they could stop so many.

"Get behind me!" Tyler commanded as he grabbed hold of her arm and stood in front of her to protect her.

Swarm moved toward them slowly, reaching out toward them with it's fingerless hands. Tyler wouldn't let it get close though, kicking it away with his left foot. Swarm was knocked back, but not deterred, as yet another copy reached for them.

Tyler closed his eyes and focused, trying to picture something in his mind that they could use to take care of Swarm. As he was thinking, Nicole was swatting at another of Swarm's copies behind him, trying to keep it at bay as long as she could.

Then, Tyler's eyes flashed open wide and flame jets sprouted from his palms, scorching Swarm all around him. He spun slowly, burning all of Swarm's copies in the immediate area. He spun towards Nicole, who was being held by Swarm.

"Get away from her!" Tyler yelled as green energy started eminating from his body.

He ran forward and tackled Swarm, ripping it off of Nicole in the process. He wrestled it to the ground, created jets on his feet, and drug Swarm through hundreds of itself, blasting them out of the way. He flipped off of Swarm, back to Nicole, landing with a ground punch that created a shockwave, knocking Swarm back. Then, he grabbed Nicole as rocket boots appeared on his feet and propelled them forward at incredible speed.

"We need to get to the Removable Drive at all costs!" He said with incredible urgency.

"I know." Nicole replied. "It looks like we've lost Swarm, at least for now."

"Oh, it'll be back. Trust me!" He said.

They stopped at a link to the drive they'd been looking for. Tyler guestured to the link, silently insisting that Nicole go first. She obeyed without hesitation, though the process was slower than she thought it would be. She could feel her body stretch and warp as it began to be split between the two systems.

As Nicole was in the process of transferring, Swarm came into view from the distance and was closing fast! She felt yet another wave of fear wash over her as she realized that Tyler also needed to transfer to the drive. And as slow as it was going for her, there was no way he would make it!

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Tyler was consumed by a green flash and disappeared without a trace. She was shocked speechless by the sudden disappearance of her best friend. She was shocked even more so when she saw Swarm coming at her still, completely unfazed by what had just happened to its other target.

* * *

Tyler landed, two feet on solid ground. Rather strange ground. He looked around at the new room he'd suddenly been thrust into. Lights on the ceiling, flourescant by the look of them. Tiled flooring, a glass case holding a large green gem, and a computer terminal rounding out the view of the REAL WORLD room he found himself in.

How in the world did he get into the real world? He had no idea. But now was not the time for taking in the sights or thinking about how he'd just accomplished the impossible, he had to check on his best friend stat!

He ran over to the computer, checking the screen to see what was happening. He was greeted by something rather odd to him, a progress bar. The screen had two bars: "Nicole: 99%" and "Swarm: 1%" The problem was that Swarm's bar was moving much faster than Nicole's due to it being a much simpler program.

"Come on Nikki!" he chanted at the screen, trying to will it to move faster than it was already moving. He held his hand over the flash drive, waiting for it to switch to "100%" so that he could disconnect the drive and keep Swarm from making it in as well.

Swarm's progress moved quickly. "40%, 50%, 70%, 90%, 95%" Swarm was at 98% when Nicole finally finished her transfer and Tyler removed the drive, cancelling Swarm's transfer and keeping Nicole safe.

He let out a sigh of relief, taking a moment to decompress after that stressful situation. He didn't wait too long, however, before he got right back to work.

* * *

"Sir, another hedgehog has appeared in the green Chaos Emerald chamber." Snively said, obviously confused by the hedgehog's sudden appearance.

"How is that possible Snively?" Robotnik asked in an irritated tone.

"I'm not sure sir, but I think it has something to do with the Chaos Emerald. He appears to be manipulating its energy." Snively tried to explain.

"Is that even possible?" Sonic asked, just as confused as Robotnik.

"Yes, it is. But it's rare. There is a gene that is passed down through generations that allows individuals to control Chaos energy. The problem is that the ancient race of echidnas that studied the Chaos Emeralds were destroyed a long time ago, around the time the Emeralds disappeared. And, with their disappearance, went the knowledge of the Emeralds. As such, very little is known about the Chaos Emeralds, Chaos Energy, or the Chaos Gene." Snively explained.

"Sounds like a lotta mumbo-jumbo to me. But thanks for the info." Sonic said as he gave a thumbs up. "Well, I guess that's all I needed to know. I'm outta here; see ya!"

Sonic charged a spin in place, then let it rip, spinning around and around the force field that Robotnik had contained him in. He started spinning around the barrier so fast that he became a blue ring. Then he thrust himself from the top of the barrier towards the floor, flipped mid air so that he would hit the floor feet first, and then crashed through the floor with a loud thrashing noise.

Robotnik walked over to the hole that had just been made in the floor and looked down through it.

"Snively, remind me to create a suspended barrier next time to prevent this from happening." Robotnik said in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Duly noted sir." Snivley said as he moved back to his spot at the computer terminal.

* * *

Max was looking at the door where the green glow had been, almost expecting something to happen. At first, there was nothing, not even a noise. Then, suddenly, a green hedgehog ran out of the room. He had a flash drive in one hand and a large green gem in the other.

"What'd I miss?" The hedgehog asked.

The Robians that had been holding onto Max dropped him and turned toward the newcomer. Max didn't waste the opportunity. He ran over to Tiara and knocked one of the Robians near her into the wall. Tiara kicked the other Robian in the head, causing it to let go of her arm, thus letting her scramble away from it and collect herself.

The green hedgehog slid underneath of the S.W.A.T. Bot as it approached him and ran over to Bunnie, who was lying on the floor motionless. Max watched as he pulled wires and other things out of the Roboticizer Pack and started fiddling with them. Two Robians and the S.W.A.T. Bot approached him as he worked, slowly restricting the space around him to practically nothing. Then, just when all hope seemed lost, a metal fist struck the Robians, knocking them away. Then it grabbed the S.W.A.T. Bot, tossing it to the other end of the room. Max followed the hand down the arm and straight to it's owner, Bunnie. She was mobile!

Bunnie leaped from the ground and flipped rather acrobatically in the air on her way back down. She landed between two of the Robians and thrust her hands out to her sides, driving both Robians through the air and into the walls on either side of the room, each of them striking with a deafening thud.

Tiara moved over to Bunnie's side, watching her back so that Bunnie wouldn't be surprised by anything. She scanned the environment around them as she started to speak: "Be careful, there are people in those suits!"

"Relax sugah," Bunnie said with a smirk on her face, "Ah'm in the same suit they are. If it don't hurt me, then it won't hurt them."

"Point." Tiara acquiesced. "Now what do we do about the S.W.A.T. Bot?"

"The outer shell is hard," the hedgehog started to say, "but the inside of it is vulnerable. If you pry open its chest plate, you should be able to reach inside and hurt it."

"Say no more sugah." Bunnie said as she lunged at the S.W.A.T. Bot.

She pried open its chest plates and thrust her hand into its body, ripping out wires and gears as she jumped away. The Bot dropped like a stone after she was done, but it wasn't the only one. Two clangs sounded, the first from Bunnie's downed S.W.A.T. Bot, the other from a second S.W.A.T. Bot that had been approaching from the hallway.

Bunnie turned to look at the mysterious S.W.A.T. Bot in the hallway, trying to figure out why it fell. She realized what had happened when Knuckles stepped around the robot and into the room. He also had a mess of wires in his hand.

"Thanks for the tip." Knuckles said as he dropped the electronic spaghetti.

"No problem." The hedgehog said.

"Whats your name?" Max asked as the rest of Knuckles' group came in behind him.

"Tyler." He replied.

"Wait, aren't y'all the one that turned off the I.V. I had in mah arm?" Bunnie asked.

"Yep, it's a long story. I used to be in the computer." Tyler said in a calm voice.

"So you're a hacker?" Sally asked.

"No, I was a program." Tyler said bluntly.

"How is that possible?" Rotor asked.

"I have no idea. But I think it has something to do with this." Tyler said as he held up the green Emerald.

"That's a Chaos Emerald!" Knuckles exclaimed.

Before Tyler could respond to his statement, Sonic burst into the room with a loud gust of supersonic wind. He turned toward Tyler and looked at the gem in his hand.

"What's goin' on here?" He asked.

"I'll keep things short. My name is Tyler, and this is apparently a Chaos Emerald. Whatever that is." Tyler said, trying to explain everything in as few words as possible.

"We have another problem." Knuckles said, looking at the Chaos Emerald. "The Emerald that Robotnik took from me was purple, not green."

"So, he still has another one around here somewhere..." Sonic said as he started stretching to run again. "Well, we can't let that be! I'll go see if I can find it. It should be here somewhere."

"Sonic, you shouldn't go alone." Tiara said. "You need someone to watch your back. I'll go with you."

"Alright." Sonic said with finality. "Then let's go. The rest of you get back to Haven, we'll meet you back there."

"Right." Sally said, speaking for the group.

So they split up, Sonic picking up Tiara to carry her to wherever the purple Chaos Emerald might be, everyone else moving quickly through Robotnik's base to get back to Haven.

It only took them a moment to find the Chaos Emerald which was displayed prominently in a lab of some kind. There was a large machine connected to it, drawing glowing purple energy from it and pumping it into some kind of large disc. Come to think of it, that disc was probably big enough to drive a cargo truck through comfortably.

Sonic moved over to the Emerald, trying to figure out how to remove it from the machine. He paused when he heard a voice behind him.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Robotnik asked.

Sonic and Tiara both turned around to look at the madman standing behind them. Sonic spoke first.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to take it from ya doc. You'll haveta find some other kind of battery for your giant frisbee." Sonic said sarcastically.

"You're a fool if you think you'll be leaving with my Chaos Emerald hedgehog." Robotnik said as he shook his finger at Sonic.

Robotnik pressed a button on his wrist, causing the disc to spin and create a purplish tunnel that extended a few hundred feet into an area that Sonic didn't recognize.

"Of course, you won't be able to do much to stop my plans if you're in another dimension." Robotnik said in a contemptuous tone.

"Oh yeah?" Sonic said as he charged Robotnik. "We'll see about that you oversized egg!"

He dashed forward, stright at Robotnik, then leaped up in the air, swinging his legs forward to kick Robotnik in the chest and take him out, but he bounced off of an invisible energy barrier that surrounded his target. Instead of striking his enemy, Sonic was sent hurtling backwards away from Robotnik and into the tunnel that had appeared.

He landed in the grass on the far side of the tunnel, moaning from the pain he felt in his left arm which he'd landed on. Just as he started to pick himself up, Tiara landed on top of him, having been thrown thorugh the tunnel by Robotnik as well.

He finally lifted his head and looked at the tunnel just in time to see it close in front of him. The two of them were now stranded in a place Sonic couldn't recognize.

He picked himself up off of the ground and looked around at the place that they were now in. It was apparently some kind of city, though he didn't recognize it. There were tall buildings all around them, but no sidewalks. Instead, all of the buildings were connected by a series of tunnels and ramps towards their tops.

He couldn't figure out where on Mobius they'd gone, that is, until he remembered what Robotnik had said. They were in another dimension. That explained the strange infrastructure that surrounded them.

He dropped his head in defeat. With the portal now closed, there was no immediate way back home. Guess they'd just have to make this their home for now, at least until they could make it back to Mobius.

Just as he thought it was time to move, he heard something approaching from their left side. He and Tiara both turned to look, only to see large robots about two stories tall walking toward them and holding out their palms in their direction.

Well, Sonic thought, this was going to be very interesting!

 **Author's Note: Guys, I am so sorry it took so long to upload this chapter. I actually finished writing it on Thanksgiving day, but the file got corrupted and I had to re-write it from scratch!**

 **Sonic Haven Season 1 is almost finished. It will end up being 19 episodes in all. Yes, that means that the next chapter is the last of Season 1. It will probably be pretty short too, but I can't be sure. I'll try to get it up soon and get Season 1 finished within the next week or so. After that, I'll be taking a short break from Sonic Haven and am going to try writing some other fanfictions. I was thinking probably either Sly Cooper or Smash Bros. Both of them will be original series that are hard reboots of the original stories. (Or actually creating a story in Smash's case)**

 **That having been said, I hope you guys all enjoyed Season 1 of Sonic Haven. I have tons of ideas for the series going forward, enough for 3 seasons at least; maybe more. And that's just what I have planned, I have plenty more ideas that I could probably turn into several more seasons after that, I just haven't planned that far in the future. So don't worry, Sonic Haven isn't going anywhere!**

 **When you see Episode 1 of Season 2 go up, I'll have made several chapters by that point so that I can upload on a more regular basis once it kicks off. I'd like to do weekly uploads if at all possible, but we'll see.**

 **Well, thanks for reading that wall of text, have a good day!**


	19. Season 1 - Episode 19: Aftermath

**Sonic Haven Season 1 – Episode 19**

"It's been too long, they should've been back by now." Sally said as she paced back and forth in the middle of Haven. "We should mount a rescue operation!"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Max said.

"Why not? The last time we went in we came out with Bunnie and Nicole, plus Tyler and the Chaos Emerald he found. We should be able to go back in and kick Robotnik's butt again!" She said with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, but we went after Bunnie immediately after she was captured. We also had a plan, and people on the inside, and Sonic." Tails said sorrowfully.

"Aw don't worry sugah, we'll get 'em back!" Bunnie said encouragingly. "After all, even if they are turned into Robians, Tyler can just fix 'em like he fixed me." She turned to face Tyler before saying: "Ah almost forgot to thank y'all for what ya did ta fix me. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Tyler said, leaning against a wall off to the left of the group. He was just outside of the door to the computer room that Nicole had made her home. "I'm gonna go check on Nikki, when I pulled her from the drive, she was still pretty shaken. I hope she's better now."

"Well let me know if she's not, I don't want her to fall apart." Sally said as Tyler moved for the door to the computer room.

"I will." Tyler said as he walked inside, leaving the group outside to continue wondering what on Mobius they would do.

"I am thinking zat Soneek and Tiara maybe being ze Robian death machines!" Antoine exaggerated.

"Oh 'Twan, we need ta work on yer attitude! They're both pretty smart, they'll be fine." Bunnie said as she slapped Antoine on the shoulder.

Antoine made a noise when Bunnie's arm hit his shoulder, feeling his breath leave him and a throbbing pain in his arm. "Zat eez not improving ze attitude!" He said as he pointed to her arm.

"Sorry 'Twan, guess Ah still don' know mah own strength." Bunnie said jokingly.

"I am guessing zat we will also need to be working on your touch!" Antoine said as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Great, we can work together! Let's go!" Bunnie said as she grabbed Antoine's arm and drug him off to the small practice area in the corner excitedly.

"Should we do something?" Max asked.

"No, it'll be good for both of them." Sally said as she sat down for the first time since getting back to Haven.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Tyler asked Nicole for the third time.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nicole said without any tension in her voice.

"Great! I've been really worried about you since you came out of the drive Nikki." Tyler said in relief.

"Nikki?" She said, noting the nickname he'd given her.

"Ohh..." Tyler said as he felt heat hit his face like a tidal wave. "Yeah, I started calling you that after I jumped into the real world.

"Uh-huh..." Nicole said as she processed his words. "How did you make it into the real world anyway?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah. That would be this Chaos Emerald." Tyler said as he held up the green Emerald for her to see on the webcam. "Knuckles said that I have some kind of gene that allows me to tap into its power. I guess I used it to reach the real world."

"Interesting. Can you come back in?" She asked.

"I don't know, let me try." Tyler said as he started to focus.

He channeled the energy of the Chaos Emerald into his body and let it run through him, trying to bring himself into the digital space. He focused on Nicole and used her as an anchor of sorts, something to keep him focused. However, instead of bringing himself into the computer next to Nicole, he instead brought Nicole out of the computer!

He was completely dumbfounded as he stared at Nicole, who was standing in front of him in the REAL WORLD. How did this happen? More Chaos Energy no doubt. He looked at Nicole and saw the amazed expression on her face. She couldn't believe what had just happened either! He opened his mouth to speak but then found himself in the digital world, completely surrounded by various files of Nicole's. Amoung those files were ones she'd kept from Robotnik's computer, including the specs for the S.W.A.T. Bots and Robian suits.

His mouth dropped open in shock as he realized that he could now move between the real world and the digital one at will! And not only that, but he could take other people with him as well! He gathered himself and then jumped back into the real world and caught his breath.

"Wow..." Nicole said.

"Yeah, wow." Tyler echoed.

"That's crazy... it would've been nice to know that you could do that back when we were being chased." Nicole said.

"Heh, yeah. At least we're both ok though." Tyler said in relief.

"Yeah, thanks to you. Seriously, will you ever run out of ways to amaze me?" She said with a smile on her face.

Tyler blushed and dropped his head with a dumb smile plastered on his face. "I dunno, you tell me. Besides, you're the one who came up with the idea to create things that we could use to escape. Without you, we wouldn't have made it out of there." He said as he collected himself.

"True, but I'm not the one who accomplished the impossible." She said as she walked over to him. "You saved my life Pix."

"Well, I uh..." He stammered. "Pix... like, short for Pixel?" He asked.

"Yeah, if you have a nickname for me, then I think it's only fitting that I have one for you." She said.

"But seriously, thanks Pix." She said with a big smile and a sparkle in her eye. She embraced him in a tight hug. After several moments, she let him go, hesitated for a moment, then said: "I think I-I'm gonna go tell the others about our l-latest development." She said with a slight nervous stutter. She took a deep breath, brushed the hair out of her eyes and composed herself. "You coming?" She asked.

"Yeah." Tyler said weakly. "Yeah, I'm coming." He repeated, this time with more confidence.

"Great, maybe I can give you a tour of Haven." She said as they turned toward the door.

"Um, this is your first time in it as well as mine. I think it would be more like exploring together." he corrected.

"Ok, yeah, you're right. But we're really good at that, right?" She said with a smirk.

"Hmm, yeah..." He said with a smirk of his own.

Together, they both went out to the main area to tell the rest of the team about this latest exciting development. And as they stepped out and everyone turned to look at them, Tyler couldn't help but wonder what had just happened to them in that last conversation.

* * *

"Sonic, it's coming back!" Tiara yelled as Sonic prepared to challenge one of the mysterious robots that had come after them shortly after they'd landed here in this alternate dimension.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered!" Sonic said encouragingly.

He charged at the robot, trying to knock it down and take it out. Instead, he tripped over a heaved section of the concrete in the road. He faceplanted, seeing stars as he hit the ground hard and felt air leave his chest in a huff. Then, he felt a heavy metal foot on his back, pressing him into the ground with considerable force.

"Sonic!" Tiara exclaimed in shock.

Just as Sonic thought it might be over for him, he felt the pressure ease as the robot over his head was knocked back and then blown to pieces from an unknown explosion. He lifted his head to see a pinkish-purple stiletto in front of his face. The heeled shoe took off toward the other robots that were still approaching, letting Sonic get a good look at its owner.

The heeled shoe belonged to a purple cat in a black shirt and purple jacket. Her arms thrust behind her in preparation for attack, fire stemmed from her fingers in a strangely hypnotic fashion. She collected the fire together into a ball and threw it at another of the robots which was getting too close.

Just as Sonic was about to pull himself up and help the purple cat, he felt someone rather strong grab his arm and hoist him to his feet. He turned to see a red and black armadillo holding his arm.

"We need to go!" The armadillo said as he checked Sonic for wounds. Finding none, he pulled Sonic along in the direction of what was apparently safety.

Sonic did not object, but made sure to check on Tiara, whom he hadn't heard since he went down. As he turned to look, he saw a shot whizz overhead and strike one of the robots with a disc that attached itself to its chest. Just when he thought that the trick was over, the cat he'd seen earlier hit the disc with a fireball, causing the robot to explode in dramatic fashion. He traced the line of the shot up to its point of origin but was unable to see who'd fired it.

Remembering what he was initially trying to check, he again turned his head towards Tiara to check on her. When he finally found her, he could see that she was ok and was, in fact, ahead of him, running with some kind of yellow squirrel.

Things had turned on their head quickly, and Sonic had too many questions and not enough answers!

 _ **(End Season 1)**_

 **Author's Note: As I said in the last chapter, I'm going to take a short break. I do want to get back to this** soon **though! Especially to Max, who I actually had grand plans for but I feel I sidelined for most of Season 1.**

 **If you have any suggestions that you'd like to give, I would appreciate them. So feel free to PM me if you would like to suggest something.**

 **Anyway, Kiah out. See you next season!**


	20. S2 - E01: Into Another Dimension

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 1**

"Close the portal Snively!" Robotnik commanded.

"Yes sir." Snively said as he moved over to a nearby console to turn off the dimensional tunnel. He pulled a lever and the machine began to power down, but not before something came through.

Robotnik looked down at the hedgehog laying at his feet. He was a light green color and wore a black jacket, black and green shoes that buckled around the ankles, and red sunglasses to complete that rebellious look.

The hedgehog turned to look at the portal he'd come through, only to see it close. He then turned toward Robotnik and opened his mouth to speak.

Robotnik cut him off before he began. "Who are you?" He demanded.

"Oh come on, I just got here and people are already bossing me around! I don't take orders from you, Chrome Dome!" The hedgehog barked at the man standing over him.

Just as Robotnik was about to reply, the room filled with S.W.A.T. Bots, all of them ready to obey any order given. Robotnik smiled before he spoke, then let the menace carry through his voice. "Would you like to rethink your previous statement?" He asked the hedgehog.

"Scourge, people call me Scourge the Hedgehog." He said in a more cautious tone.

"Good. Now come with me if you want to live to see tomorrow." Robotnik said as he turned to leave.

Scourge followed Robotnik out the door and down several halls, down what felt like a hundred flights of stairs, and into a small room with a metallic ring around the door. Once they were inside the small room, Robotnik pointed at a bed in the corner and Scourge sat down on it, waiting for whatever came next.

"You will stay here until I can rebuild the Roboticization room and turn you into a robot servant. Should you try to escape, you will be put through the procedure without the preparation that is normally given. If I understand correctly, it's extremely painful and even potentially fatal if the device doesn't tap into the spine correctly. Is that what you want?" Robotnik asked.

"No." Scourge said shortly.

"Good, then stay here like a good little hedgehog until I can get the room ready for you." Robotnik said as he left the room.

After he left, he hit a panel on the wall with his fist that caused a bluish energy field to cover the doorway, thus blocking any escape plan Scourge might have had.

"You know this thing won't hold me right?" Scourge said with a slight smirk.

"And if you try to escape and are caught? I don't think I need to repeat myself." Robotnik said in a low tone as he walked away.

* * *

"Thanks again for saving us." Sonic said to the purple cat from earlier.

Sonic, Tiara, and the cat were all sitting in a room that had a table in the middle and some stand-ins for chairs around it. The walls were a sickly green and cracked from floor to ceiling. Broken fluorescent lights hung overhead. There was a group of four candles set on the table, which had been lit by the cat's fingers. There was also carpet on most of the floor, save for the spot by the broken window on the wall to Sonic's left; that spot looked like it had been burned away and had left small holes in the metallic floor underneath. Acid rain was the only explanation for the odd burn pattern and corrosion in the floor.

"My name is Blaze the Cat." She said in a monotone voice.

"Pleasure to meet you." Tiara said politely.

"If you don't mind, can you tell me how you got here?" Blaze asked.

"A guy named Robotnik, not a good guy, created a device powered by a Chaos Emerald, a gem with nearly limitless power, that sent us here." Sonic explained not-so-thoroughly.

"Ok, I think I follow..." Blaze said, still wrapping her head around what Sonic was saying.

"Don't suppose you have a way to get us back?" Sonic asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. We honestly don't have the resources to build such a device even if we knew how." Blaze said sorrowfully.

"Yeah, I noticed." Sonic said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's obviously not been easy for you lately, what happened?" The lighthearted tone was completely gone from his voice.

Tiara took note of the way Sonic spoke, how he usually tried to make people not worry about things by making light of them. Yet, when something was very serious or bad, he was all business, making sure to express to others that he truly did understand the depth of the situation. This was evident in the way he'd just made light of his own problems, then gone completely straight when Blaze was obviously troubled by her own. She really liked that about him.

Tiara was brought back to reality when Blaze finally spoke. "It's been years now, longer than I've been alive." Blaze started to explain. "Years ago, a mad scientist was bent on taking over the world. He created a robot that would gradually improve in intelligence on its own. The problem is that the robots he created killed him in his sleep, and with him died the kill code for the robots that, as far as we know, would still shut them all down. And so, the robots have gone unchecked for decades. They've run the resources of this world almost completely dry as they've expanded to every corner of it. We fight, not for freedom, but to survive. Every day we scavenge for supplies that they haven't found."

When Blaze had finished, though it had only been a couple of minutes, she seemed thoroughly exhausted. "I'm sorry, my problems shouldn't be your problems. The worst of it is that we're nearly out of food here. When that happens..." She dropped her head to the table with a thunk.

"Hey," Sonic said in a chipper tone, "don't worry. I'm here to help."

Blaze llifted her head from the table and looked at his smiling face. "You know," She said, "You're very different from the other hedgehog I knew."

"Oh yeah," Sonic said with a smirk, "how so?"

"Ughhhh..." Blaze said as she rolled her eyes so hard they should've flown off her face, "Sometimes I think he only cares about himself."

"Alright then, I promise to try to care about everyone." Sonic said as he crossed his arms.

"No no, You've already gone through so much, I couldn't possibly ask you to..." Blaze started, but Sonic cut her off.

"Nope, I've already started." Sonic said with a frown. A frown that changed into a smirk.

"You're being funny again aren't you?" Blaze asked rhetorically.

Sonic answered anyways. "Yep." Then he dropped the goofy attitude and proceeded on a more median course of small talk. "Could you introduce me to the rest of your team?" Sonic asked.

"Ummm, sure. Why not?" Blaze said, giving up on trying to figure Sonic out.

She walked the two of them into another room where the rest of her team was sitting. A red armadillo sat to the left, practicing some kind of fighting technique against a wooden pole. Across from him sat a yellow squirrel that was wearing a light blue scarf and blue shoes. He was happily sleeping away the day. And in the middle of the room sat a purplish weasel with a big brown fedora. He was holding a rifle of some kind and polishing it with a red cloth.

"So, this the part where we talk to the newcomers eh Sheila?" The weasel asked.

"That's Knack, he's the sniper and recon leader of the group." Blaze said as she came to a stop.

Knack walked over to Sonic and held out his hand. "Pleasure to meet ya mate. It's been long time since we 'ad any new blood 'round 'ere." He said as he shook Sonic's hand. Then he turned toward the snoozing squirrel. "Ey Ray, come ove' 'ere and say 'ello to the newbies."

The young squirrel awoke from his nap and rushed over to Sonic to shake his hand. "Hi my name's Ray." he said enthusiastically.

"Ray is the flyer, he keeps an eye on us from the air to make sure we're not flanked." Blaze said.

"Nice to meet ya." Sonic said as he shook the squirrel's hand firmly.

While they were getting acquainted, the armadillo walked over without preamble and waited for them to finish. When Ray stepped away, he stepped up in front of Sonic and held out his hand. "Mighty, I'm the up-close-and-personal fighter of the group." He said.

"And I'm essentially the tactician of the group." Blaze said as Mighty stepped away.

"Did ya find out anythin' 'bout Scourge?" Fang asked Blaze.

"No, though I'm going to guess that he got pulled through the portal that Sonic came through. Knowing Scourge, if he wasn't pulled in by accident, he probably jumped in head first just to see what would happen." Blaze said as she shook her head.

"Yeah, you're probably roight." Fang admitted.

"Well, as long as I'm here I'll try to fill in for 'em." Sonic said with a smirk and a thumbs up.

"Righto then," Fang said, "If you're stayin', then you're gonna need to be brought up to speed. How 'bout it Sheila?"

"Fang's right, so let's tell you where we're at exactly." Blaze started before launching into a thirty-minute explanation of what they were planning on doing in the city, as well as detailing the patrols of the various robots around the city that they'd dubbed Guardians.

As she continued to explain more and more about their current predicament, Sonic could only wonder if he could possibly get all of these people out of here alive.


	21. S2 - E02: What is Forbidden

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 2**

"If things are so hard here, then why not move?" Tiara asked Blaze as the two stood alone on the top of the skyscraper they'd been staying in.

Blaze stared out at the bleak, gray sunset before speaking slowly. "We've looked for other places, we always do, that way we can stay ahead of the Guardians. But, this last time we moved, maybe about a month ago now, we couldn't find any other spots. If we get kicked out of here, we don't know where we'll go next." She explained.

"That sounds terrible. I know when Robotnik took over Mobitropolis I thought that my life was pretty much over. I can see now that it can obviously get much worse!" Tiara lamented.

"Don't worry about us." Blaze said as she turned back toward Tiara. "We've made it this far. Besides, we could always try the Forbidden City."

"Forbidden City?" Tiara asked.

"When the Guardians took over the world, there was one city that was left alone. It had been abandoned long before the Guardians' takeover and nobody knows why. Several individuals, including former members of our group, have tried to go to the Forbidden City never to return." Blaze explained with a distant tone.

"Well, what if life is somewhat normal over there and you just need to make it there to see for yourself?" Tiara said hopefully.

"It doesn't add up." Blaze answered quickly. "People would leave for the city, hoping to return with word of whether it was safe or not, only to disappear forever. If it was safe, they would've come back long ago."

"Well, there's still one more possibility," Tiara said with an optimistic tone. "Maybe the danger has passed."

"I suppose it's possible." Blaze said with a shrug. "But we'd be risking our lives."

"I understand why you haven't gone, but I want you to remember that you need to consider multiple reasons for something, rather than jumping to conclusions. You only think the Forbidden City is dangerous because nobody has returned, but there are several explanations you may not have considered. It may be worth a quick look, even if it's only to confirm your suspicions." Tiara said as she walked away, leaving Blaze to think about what she'd said.

Blaze turned back to the ever darkening monochromatic sunset and thought about what she'd just heard. Maybe Tiara was right, they'd always just assumed that the Forbidden City was dangerous, but there was only one way to know for sure. Before the sun had set behind the dusty horizon, she knew what she needed to do!

* * *

"So what's in this Forbidden City exactly?" Sonic asked as they set out on their trek.

"Nobody knows, sounds kinda spooky if you ask me." Ray said with a shiver.

"Eh, I've dealt with pretty scary stuff myself. Shouldn't be anything too bad." Sonic said as he shrugged himself.

"How far away is it?" Tiara asked.

"A few moiles, it was a subehb this city back befoe the takeove'" Knack said.

"We should be able to handle it!" Mighty said confidently.

"Yeah, I agree." Sonic said as he gave Mighty a high five.

"Well, you're certainly as confident as Scourge was." Blaze said stoicly.

"Confidence is a good thing." Sonic said with a smirk.

"Yes, but ego is not. Don't let it go to your head." Blaze said as she turned around and began walking across the dusty landscape.

Sonic looked overhead as the sun was just peeking through the grayish sky in between two of the roads that hung overhead. It should've been around 9:00 am though he couldn't know for sure since he and Tiara were the only ones wearing watchers, and those were synced to the timetable in Mobitropolis. Shrugging, deciding he didn't care about the time that much, he pressed forward right behind Blaze.

* * *

Nicole turned as she saw Tyler and Knuckles walk into Haven after leaving to go and get supplies. She quickly ran over to Tyler as he set down the sack he'd been carrying. She rummaged through it, pulling out a protein bar and beginning to snack on it as Tyler walked into another room and Knuckles walked over to Sally to tell her about something that must've been important. Something was obviously wrong, so she considered her options.

Deciding that she could find out just as much from Tyler, who she'd rather talk to anyway, she went to go and ask him. She walked through the door and saw him sitting at the table in the conference room. He looked a little sad, so she decided to put on a soft expression and try to cheer him up if she could. Honestly, she had no idea if it would work or not, but it was worth a try.

"Hey," she said as she jumped up onto the table next to him, sitting down and letting her legs swing back and forth blissfully, "what's up?"

He smirked at her overwhelmingly lighthearted attitude, then took a deep breath before answering. "Knuckles and I went to the south side of town. We went to go and get some food from the old supermarket over there, but when we got there it was cleaned out."

"That doesn't sound so bad." She said, cocking her head to the side and letting her happy expression dissolve. "What else?" She asked, knowing there was more to it than that.

"It wasn't the only one cleaned out." He explained. "Every store we went to, every apartment, every house, every vending machine, they're all emptied."

"Then where did the food come from?" She asked quizzically.

"We managed to overrun a group of Robians carrying the food back to Robotnik's base. We're guessing that's where all of the rest of the food went." He said as he looked into the distance.

"What happens when we run out of food in a few days?" She wondered aloud, her low tone implying it to be a rhetorical question.

"Knuckles went to ask Sally what she wants us to do. But, if I had to guess, we'll need to steal the food from Robotnik." He said.

"We can manage it though..." She said in an unsure tone.

"Sure." Tyler said as he shook his head. "Anyway, how are you?"

"Not bad, but I could be better." She said with a drop of her head.

He grabbed hold of her hand and held it in his slightly larger one reassuringly. Then he spoke softly. "Hey, don't worry. We'll be fine. After all, we survived a hostile takeover and an assault on a mad scientist." He chuckled. "We won't be beaten by starvation of all things!"

She smiled, closed her eyes and nodded her head. "Yeah, you're right. Well, we better go see what Sally has planned." She jumped off the table and walked toward the door, then turned and looked back at him. "You coming Pix?"

"Yeah." He said with a smirk.

The two walked out to the main room and over to the group in the far corner. There, they stood on the edge and listened to the ensuing discussion as everyone brought up ideas and solutions to problems as they all tried to come up with a plan. Finally, after several minutes of discussion, it seemed that they had a plan, which Sally laid out for them all so they knew what they would do over the next few days.

As he listened, Tyler's blood went cold as he realized that he and Nicole were still holding hands.


	22. S2 - E03: On the Road Again

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 3**

 **Author's Note: This chapter is really short, but that's because I wanted to end on a punch. If you're familiar enough with the different Sonic iterations, you should know what's in the city.**

Sonic took a deep breath as they continued on the road toward the Forbidden City, then he quickly regretted the decision as the air was saturated with various gasses of different levels of toxicity. It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it was enough to make him a little dizzy. He shook off the funny feeling and continued walking forward with everyone else. He jogged forward and stopped next to Tiara, only to fall in step with her stride an arms distance to her right. He hadn't talked to Tiara since they'd gotten thrust into this world a couple of days ago, so he decided to check on her.

"So, how's it goin'?" He asked in a chipper tone.

"Oh, you know, same ol' same ol'." She said with a shrug. "Living in a city overrun by terrorists and hanging on to life by a thread with death machines all around us and ready to strike at any time. It must be Friday." She joked.

Sonic laughed. "Yeah, you're right. It's been kinda hectic lately huh?"

"Yeah, you're telling me!" She agreed. "At least we found other people to help us."

Sonic nodded agreement and then sighed. He waited for about a minute, then changed the subject. "So, where are you from?" He asked.

She looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Your accent, it's very slight, but noticeable." He explained.

"Well, good for you noticing the small things. Most people don't even ask." She said, then explained her story. "I'm from Spagonia originally, but my parents moved to Mobitropolis when I was eight. I went to school only a month later and met Sally; she was so friendly that I just sort of melded into her circle of friends effortlessly. Eventually, my parents decided to move away, but since I had already finished school by that point, I decided to stay in Mobitropolis and Sally put me up in the Acorn Palace. The two of us have been like sisters ever since."

"Cool." Sonic said, giving a thumbs up. "Tails was always like that with me. He and I were neighbors, so the two of us spent a lot of time together over the summer when we were kids. I was initially two grades ahead of him, but he was so smart that the two of us graduated the same year. Then we even managed to find a job at the same place, so 'the adventures of Sonic and Tails' just kinda never stopped."

"That seems a little weird," Tiara said with a giggle. "almost like he was following you around."

"A lot of people seem to think that, but if anything, it's actually the other way around. Like you said about Sally, Tails is basically the brother I never had. I hate being anywhere without him, he kinda makes life more exciting for me." Sonic explained.

"That's so sweet." She said with a note of 'awww' in her voice.

Sonic just smiled. He was thinking of something else to say when Tiara spoke up herself. "What do you think we'll find in the 'Forbidden City'?" She asked.

"Eh, not sure. Whatever it is, it'll be sorry that we came into town!" Sonic said enthusiastically.

He heard a shout of "YEAH!" come from behind him; it was Ray, who'd apparently been eavesdropping on their conversation. Mighty, who was standing next to the squirrel-boy, simply nodded his agreement and made no more fuss about it.

When Sonic turned back around, he noticed that Tiara was giggling again. "What are you laughing at now?" He asked in a tone that implied he wasn't really sure he wanted the answer.

"Oh, it's just Ray. I think he's cute." She said.

"I'm not cute, I'm twelve years old! I'm a man!" Ray protested, though his words only succeeded in making both Sonic and Tiara burst into laughter.

Ray turned to Fang for support, but Fang shook his head. "Sorry kid, but twelve yea's old don't make you man."

Ray dropped his head in defeat.

"Aw, cheer up. You're still a very nice and responsible person. I wouldn't trade you in for anyone else!" Tiara said with a smile and a wink.

That cheered Ray up; he lifted his hand and looked her in the eye. "Really?"

"You bet." She confirmed.

"Awesome! You're not so bad yourself." Ray said as he started skipping along as if nothing was wrong.

Sonic decided a change in focus for the entire group wasn't such a bad idea, so he shouted ahead to Blaze. "Hey Blaze, how much further to the city?" Sonic asked.

"Not far now, that's it on the hill over there." She said as she gestured with her head.

Sonic looked at the city on the hill, it was about four miles away or so. It looked completely untouched, well, apart from the slight damage that had been done by acid rain. Looking at the skyline, he could see that this city also had its roads on the top of the buildings, a feature he found so odd that he just couldn't comprehend its purpose.

The last few miles went fairly smooth, all things considered. They made the city in good time and stood at the edge of town as Sonic read the sign posted on the edge of the city limits...

It said: "Welcome to: FLEETWAY CITY"


	23. S2 - E04: A Real Scourge All the Time

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 4**

Max took a deep breath as he approached Robotnik's base. He had to be careful, especially since he had no backup! They needed to know what was going on inside Robotnik's base and that meant running a recon mission as stealthily as possible. For some reason, Sally decided that Max would be the best fit for the mission, maybe because of his military background; he hoped that wasn't the reason.

He'd only been with the military for about three months before Robotnik attacked the city and flipped his life on its head. He had little to no real life experience, and only a minimal amount of training as it hadn't been deemed necessary to train extensively for more than thirty years, back when the kingdom had last been in a large scale conflict. He'd only decided to join the military because his father had served in that war and had said it was his dream that his son do the same should another war arise.

As he climbed into the sewer system that Sonic had used to infiltrate the building before, he thought to himself 'I wish I'd never joined.' He hadn't signed up for war in the first place, he didn't really consider himself much of a fighter. And what happened in the tank...

His heartbeat accelerated as he remembered what happened, the terror he felt as the Robian jumped onto the top of the tank and ripped off the hatch to climb inside. The look on his partner's face as the Robian grabbed onto him and mistakenly smacked his head into the top of the tank, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. Then it turned to him, looking at him with those dead, robotic eyes. What happened next is a blur in his mind, a blur that, rather than clearing over time, only proceeded to get blurrier and blurrier. Did he pull out the weapon? Did the Robian grab something to attack him with? No, that didn't make sense. The Robian wanted him alive. Surely it wouldn't have pulled a weapon on him.

He rubbed the side of his abdomen as he remembered the stab, the one that had nearly killed him. It haunted him to this day, giving him nightmares nearly every night. He wondered what would've happened to him if Tails and Knuckles hadn't tried to rescue him. Would he still be alive? Not likely. He should be thankful, yet he couldn't seem to remember even speaking to either Tails or Knuckles since they'd saved him.

To be honest, his life was a mess, and not only because of Robotnik, though that certainly didn't help. All he had to do was hang on. Eventually, things would get better, right?

As he brought his focus back to reality he realized that he'd made his way into the maintenance shaft that he and Tiara had used back when they were trying to rescue Bunnie. He tried to think about where he might find the food supplies that Robotnik had stolen. He stopped when he heard a knocking noise coming from the room to his right.

Curious, he climbed out of the shaft and walked through the hallway, turned the corner. There was a hedgehog, trapped by a force field in a room that was only barely big enough to house him comfortably.

Before he could think to ask a question, the green hedgehog turned and looked at him. "What do you want?" He asked.

"Who are you?" Max asked in return.

The two stared at each other for a couple of seconds, waiting for a reply from the other.

The hedgehog spoke first. "My name's Scourge, who are you?"

"Max." He replied quickly.

"Any chance you can let me outta here? Baldy threw me in here and I need you to punch that panel by the door and turn off the energy field." Scourge said as he pointed at the wall.

Max hesitated. He didn't know for sure that letting Scourge out of his cell would be a good thing. But, he reasoned, if Robotnik didn't like him, it was probably more likely than not that Scourge would be helpful.

Max hit the panel next to the room, turning off the force field and letting Scourge out of his make-shift prison.

Scourge walked over to Max and slapped him on the shoulder. "Thanks dude, now let's get outta here."

"Not so fast." Max interjected. "I came here for a reason, and you aren't it. I need to find where Robotnik hid the food that he collected from around the town and take a measure of his security so I know what we'll need to break it."

"Alright then." Scourge said with a smirk. As he turned away, his eyes strangely shifted from blue to emerald green and glowing. Then he took off, faster than even Sonic could keep up with.

Max waited, hesitating to see if Scourge would come back. Sure enough, he did. Scourge came to a sliding halt in front of Max, gasping for breath, his fur gone from pure green to slightly more of a pale teal color, his eyes once again blue.

"You... need to... see this..." Scourge wheezed in between breaths. He grabbed onto Max and drug him at high speeds to another part of the building, down, if Max's sense of direction hadn't been completely torn to shreds in the few seconds he was hurtling through it.

As Scourge came to a stop, Max felt his guts slam against his ribs and he felt like throwing up. He tried to stay upright, but lost his balance and fell over. When he finally stood up, he stayed crouched behind some crates Scourge had stopped behind. He collected himself, then gazed over the top carefully, trying not to draw attention to this side of the room.

What he saw gave him pause; a tunnel, long and wide, with S.W.A.T. Bots marching through by the thousands!

"Oh my word!" He exclaimed in a whisper.

He quickly hid back behind the crates and looked over at Scourge. "Well, now I know where all those S.W.A.T. Bots He's been producing went!" Max said quietly.

"So, whaddya wanna do?" Scourge asked.

"Right now, grab some food and get out of here. I'll tell the others about this and we'll come up with some kind of plan later." Max said as he turned to leave.

Scourge grabbed his arm and, again, drug him through the building, sliding around corners and barreling through hallways at near the speed of sound. He stopped outside of a warehouse just beside the building they'd been in a moment before.

"Your food's in there." Scourge said as he nodded his head to indicate the building. "Can we go now? I've found just about everything in this city except for where your friends are hiding, and not knowing something drives me nuts!"

"Alright, but we move at my pace." Max said as he willed his stomach to stop spinning.

"Fine, lead the way." Scourge said impatiently.

As they walked away, Max took note of the fact that Scourge didn't seem tired. "You seriously checked the whole city? When?" He asked.

"When I ran away back when we first met. I checked everything in town and came back. I'm used to it, did it all the time back home." Scourge replied like it was no big deal.

"No wonder you were gassed." Max said softly, wondering just how fast Scourge had actually gone.

"Yeah yeah, pick up the pace would ya. I wanna get somewhere before that Tyrant finds us and disembowels us or something." Scourge said overdramatically.

"Alright alright... sheesh!" Max complained as he climbed to a slow but steady jog.

(liiiiiineeeeee)

"A tunnel?" Sally asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Sacre Bleu!" Antoine exclaimed before passing out into Bunnie's arms.

"Yeah, a tunnel, filled to the brim with a few thousand S.W.A.T. Bots traveling down it to wherever the heck it goes." Max said exhausted.

"Great," Sally said as she rubbed her forehead, "now what do we do? I wish Sonic and Tiara were still here."

"Yeah." Tails moaned from somewhere off to her left.

"Relax toots, you don't need anyone but me!" Scourge said with an obviously overconfident tone.

"And who are you?" Sally said in a tone surgically designed to deflate his ego as much as possible. She was fairly well practiced at it too, having dealt with royalty in the past.

"I'm Scourge, Scourge the Hedgehog! Fastest, strongest, and most fashionable thing alive! I think it's safe to say that the scales of war have just tipped in your favor." Apparently, Sally's words didn't do as much damage as she'd thought. "And you are?" Scourge asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked over his sunglasses to examine Sally's 'features.'

She cleared her throat before speaking. "Ahem. I'm Princess Sally, You do what I say and we won't have a problem, got it?" She said with as much royal flair as she could muster.

"A princess huh? Well I..." He was cut off as Knuckles came up from behind and grabbed Scourge, holding him in the air and leaving his feet dangling just a few inches off the ground.

Knuckles made sure he commanded attention when he spoke. "You treat her with respect and you won't have a problem with me. Trust me, you don't want to get on my bad side."

It now seemed that everyone on the team was trying to knock Scourge down a peg. Unfortunately...

"Perfect, don't move." Scourge said as he looked down at Knuckles. Then his changed from blue to green and he started vibrating back and forth rapidly before falling through Knuckles hands and walking through his body to stand on the other side.

When he'd finished, his fur had turned a slight teal again, as it had back when he'd scouted the town, but he hid his exhaustion well.

Apparently, Sally thought, nothing would shake him. It didn't really matter at this point. At the very least, it appeared that Scourge was on their side, and she would take any help she could get at this point. But the future didn't seem very bright, and without food, she wasn't sure how long they'd last.


	24. S2 - E05: Attack on the City

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 5**

"My head is pounding!" Sonic exclaimed as they moved further into Fleetway City.

Blaze turned to look at Sonic, who'd been increasingly complaining about a headache since they'd walked in. Yet, nobody else seemed to be affected by anything. However, looking at him, it was obvious that he was in a lot of pain!

Sonic was holding his head, and his eyes were bloodshot and mysteriously yellow where they'd once been green. He was also acting much more aggressive than usual.

Tiara seemed the most concerned. She was walking right beside Sonic, just in case he started to do something strange.

It was a good thing she was standing there, as right when they passed 'Larry's Diner and Soda Shop,' Sonic started to convulse and roll around, his body tensing and churning while Tiara tried to pin him down. She couldn't, not until Mighty came over to help her. Even then it was still quite the task as Sonic was actually much stronger than he looked.

His fur started to stand on end and yellow wispy energy started to leak out of every pore of his body until his fur became a glowing yellow pelt. His eyes switched from yellow to red and his teeth grew long and sharpened to points. His fingernails burst through the ends of his gloves and he started to laugh through the pain.

Just then, Sonic started to vibrate rapidly, slowly splitting into two versions of himself, one being the original blue and peaceful Sonic; the other the crazed glowing yellow version that had just revealed itself.

The yellow one stood up from the ground and looked at the others, smiling with an evilness that topped even Robotnik's worst glare.

Unfazed, Blaze turned to the yellow Sonic and asked: "Who, or what, are you?"

"Simple." It said in a low and ominous tone that made Tiara's bones rattle. "I'm your nightmare come to life!"

"Sounds terrifying." Blaze said completely nonchalantly. "Too bad it's not true."

He snarled at her. "Fine, you want to know what I am?" He pointed to Sonic. "I am everything he is amplified one hundred fold! Faster, stronger, smarter, better."

"You wish buddy." Sonic groaned as he stood up himself. "Nobody can be a better me than me! Now answer the question again."

In a flash, the yellow Sonic grabbed the original Sonic and pinned him to the wall hard enough that Sonic could feel his bones bending and nearly breaking under the pressure. "I am Anarchy consolidated into pure energy and let loose on the world to wreak havoc in this city for the last twenty years!"

"Anarchy..." Blaze said slowly as she started to realize what was going on. "You're one of the seven Sons of Anarchy aren't you?"

"Indeed I am." He said with a menacing grimace as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Born from the destruction of the canary yellow Anarchy Beryl and left to claim this city as my own. But my form was too unstable, I couldn't manifest myself in a physical presence until someone with a Chaos Gene came through. And, wouldn't you know it, someone did." He turned his head back toward Sonic and glared at him. "I used your genes to build myself a body by rapidly duplicating your cells into a second form. I guess I should thank you. Unfortunately, the world doesn't need an inferior version of myself walking around wasting space. I am the Superior Sonic, Super Sonic!" He thrust his hand at Sonic, hitting his chest and knocking the wind out of him as Sonic felt all of his ribs ache all at once. Then he let him drop like a ragdoll. Just for good measure, he kicked Sonic in the gut, then let him lay there on the ground trembling like a little baby.

He turned his attention to the others. "Now, I do believe you are trespassing!"

Knack dropped his rifle, pulled out a sidearm from his belt, and began firing rapidly at Super Sonic. The bullets just bounced off of him like they were made of rubber.

"That tickles." He said as he seemed to teleport over to Knack and grab the gun from his hand. He held it up to look at it, and it snapped between two of his fingers. "Oops, guess I don't know my own strength." He said mockingly.

"Hey!" Sonic wheezed as he stood up. "You leave my friends alone!"

"Impossible!" Super Sonic exclaimed as he turned around. "You should be nearly dead!"

Sonic shrugged and felt several things pop back into place. He took a deep breath, not letting the pain he felt show on his face. "Sorry buddy, but I've been buzzed since you decided to copy me. Guess you left a little bit of juice behind." Sonic smirked, and his eyes turned red. His body started to glow once more, again exuding a yellow tint that permeated the air around him. He never turned fully yellow like Super Sonic, but he did seem unusually fine, and apparently the headache he'd had was gone.

Sonic walked up to Super Sonic and looked him right in the face, completely unfazed. "I've got news for you pal, I'm _your_ nightmare!"

Sonic grabbed onto Super Sonic's shoulder and spun him around, but it didn't faze Super Sonic one bit. He took the spin and careened around to kick Sonic in the chest.

Sonic slid backward, barely managing to maintain his balance. He charged up a spin and launched himself at Super Sonic, trying to land an attack of his own. It worked! He hit Super Sonic in the face, knocking him onto his back.

As Super Sonic tried to gather himself and pull himself up from the ground, Knack ran to the side and slid behind an old rusty car, taking cover and readying his rifle again. He couldn't hurt Super Sonic, but maybe he could be a distraction. He looked over the edge of the car as he saw Super Sonic get ready to charge Sonic. He aimed, pulled the trigger... the shot hit Super Sonic just behind the ear. He turned and looked at Knack with a snarl on his face. Then, Knack looked on in amazement as Super Sonic's eyes started to glow red; not just the irises, but the entire eye! Lazers shot from his eyes and hit the car Knack was hiding behind, causing it to flip up into the air and over Knack's head, leaving him exposed!

Mighty was on top of it, and ran over to get in on the action! He jumped onto Super Sonic's back and clung to him for dear life, maneuvering his body around Super Sonic's spines to the best of his ability to avoid unnecessary puncture wounds. He held on long enough for Sonic to run over and kick out Super Sonic's legs, knocking him over and letting Mighty fall on top of him, which Mighty saw coming, thus allowing him to fall elbow first.

Not one to overstay his welcome, Mighty quickly rolled off of Super Sonic and scrambled out of reach before Super Sonic recovered. As Super Sonic reached out in a failed attempt to grab Mighty's ankle, Blaze ran over and jumped over him, pelting him with fireballs as she flipped over his head.

She landed on the far side and turned back around to look at Super Sonic, who was becoming incredibly frustrated.

Wanting in on the action, Ray jumped in to try to hit Super Sonic himself, only to be plucked out of the air and held off of the ground by a hand placed around his neck. The others stood around Super Sonic in a circle, not wanting to move should he decide to crush Ray's throat for their attempt to rescue their friend.

"You all are fools, let me show you what happens when you mess with me." He said as he held Ray up a little higher.

Sonic took the slight lull in the action as their chance to escape and took everyone out of the city one by one. Only Blaze was left to see what happened next. She held her breath as Suepr Sonic crushed Ray's windpipe, then dropped him as Ray squirmed for a few seconds, then died. She went pale in shock. Just as she opened her mouth to yell at Super Sonic, Sonic grabbed her and she found herself outside of the city in a flash.

Sonic, who had returned to his natural blue, started to walk away. Before he had taken two steps, Mighty spoke up. "What about Ray? We need to do something!"

"No, we don't." Blaze said in a low voice. "Super Sonic killed him. And given the way the battle was going, there was nothing we could've done if we'd stayed." She hid the pain she was feeling well.

"No, no..." Mighty said defiantly, "He's not dead! We have to save him.!" He started to run toward Fleetway city, only to be stopped by Knack, who grabbed his shoulder.

"Sorry mate." Knack said in his own somber tone. "There's nothin' we coulda done."

"NO!" Mighty yelled, falling to the ground and wiping fresh tears from his eyes.

Sonic walked over to the sign that layed at the entrance to the city. "He's not Super Sonic!" He said defiantly. "I won't let him run my name into the ground!"

"Then what do we call him?" Blaze asked.

Sonic kicked the town sign, knocking the CITY off of the end of it. "Fleetway." He said with finality.

As they walked away, Tiara spoke. "I don't think this is the end of us and Fleetway." She said somberly. And the worst part was, everyone knew she was right.


	25. S2 - E06: What Remains

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 6**

"Guys," Sally shouted, "I think I have a plan."

"Alright Sally girl, whatcha thinkin'?" Bunnie asked.

Everyone else gathered around to hear what she had to say, hoping against hope that what she'd come up with would be something that could save them from death by starvation.

"It's simple really. What's our problem?" She asked, trying to explain by asking questions to help them understand.

"We have no food." Knuckles said plainly. "We ran out this morning."

"Right. And what's keeping us from getting more food?" She asked again.

"Robotnik took it all." Nicole called out over the crowd, as she was standing in the back.

"Yes, and..." Sally hinted at another obstacle. Everyone just scratched their heads at her question, not knowing what she was hinting at. "Guys, we can't get any more food because the barrier around the city keeps us from getting food in. If we take it down, we can not only get food in, we can get in reinforcements and supplies, or even get ourselves out!"

They all looked at each other in surprise. Was taking down the barrier any more probable than stealing food? Rotor was the one who voiced the question. "Is that any better than trying to steal food from Robotnik? I mean, the barrier should be heavily guarded."

"You're right." Sally said. "But, we know from what Max and Scourge told us that Robotnik has the majority of his units underground digging some kind of tunnel under the city. If that's the case, then he should be spread thin. If we can take the generator that keeps the cage closed, we can knock open the door and let ourselves out!" She said with a kick of her right leg for emphasis.

"Zis eez zounding beyond being dangerous my Princess!" Antoine exclaimed. "I am thinking maybe we should be looking for ze new food source. Maybe we could try farming non?"

"No Antoine." Sally said in a tone that left no room for questioning. "There's no way that would work. Besides, now is the perfect time to strike! We need to do something before Robotnik is finished with his project. We need to come up with a plan." She turned and looked at the green hedgehog leaning against the wall a few feet away. "Scourge, you told me you scouted the entire city, where is the generator?"

"On top of Hairy-Face's place of residence." He said simply. "It's up on the roof and guarded by at least ten S.W.A.T. Bots."

Everyone cringed at that. S.W.A.T. Bots were extremely difficult to handle one at a time! Ten at a time? It was nigh impossible!

Sally noticed the air of apprehension in the room and jumped on it before it could crush their hopes. "Guys, we can do this! We managed to break into Robotnik's base once before, and we made it back out with Bunnie, Nicole, and Pixel. Now we have Scourge to help us as well. Not only that, but Robotnik is distracted! If we were ever going to get in there and take out the generator, now is the time." She knew she was being a little bit overdramatic, but she didn't care.

"If we're going in there," Tails said from off to her left, "we need to go after Sonic and Tiara too! We can't leave them in another dimension!"

"Good luck with that one kid." Scourge said with a smirk. "You have any idea how to run a dimensional gate?"

"Well, no. But..." Tails let his voice trail off.

"Tails and I can figure it out." Rotor said as he walked up next to Tails.

"Besahdes," Bunnie chimed in, "we know thah S.W.A.T. Bot's weakness. All we have tah do is get in undah that shahny metal case and put 'em outta commision." She hit her fist into her palm for emphasis.

Sally decided to ride this newfound wave of positivity. "Right. Now let's go make a plan and get on this before it's too late!" She motioned for everyone to follow her into the conference room so that they could do just that.

* * *

"... and he really liked ice cream too, even if he only had it once." Mighty said, holding back a sob.

They were at what was essentially a funeral for Ray, the twelve-year-old kid that never really knew what it was like to have a regular life. Sonic barely knew him, yet he couldn't help but feel sad himself. Ray seemed like a great, fun loving, energetic person. It was times like this that reminded Sonic of the promise he'd once made to King Acorn shortly after his death. _I'll keep your daughter safe, I promise_. Sonic had almost forgotten that promise, even though it hadn't really been that long since he'd made it.

He looked around at the others, all of them even more downhearted than him. He had to find a way to get them out of here, somehow.

After they'd all broken up and gone to their own little corner of this rickety building that served as a makeshift home for them, Sonic walked over to Blaze to talk to her about their plans moving forward.

"Hey Blaze." He said as he walked up.

She turned to look at him out of the corner of her eye. She was obviously not having a good day, though, frankly, none of them were.

"What?" She asked in a short tone.

"I've been thinking." Sonic said, trying to get to the point as fast as possible. "When we find a way to get Tiara and I back home, you guys should come with us. It doesn't seem like there's anything left in this world for you."

Blaze closed her eyes in both contemplation and pain. "You are right, to some extent anyway." She turned to face Sonic. "I think I might know of a way to get you home."

Sonic's expression lifted slightly. "Really?" He asked.

"Yes." Blaze replied. "The same scientist that created the Guardians was doing experiments on the Anarchy Beryls, one of them being a way to channel the power of the Beryls into a device that would allow someone to teleport themselves. I'm no expert, but it seems like the two fields are close enough that he might have found a way to travel between dimensions. It's worth a look."

"Sounds promising." Sonic said with his trademark thumbs-up. He paused for a moment before speaking again. "You mentioned Anarchy Beryls; Fleetway is one of the Sons of Anarchy. Is there some kind of connection?"

She took a deep breath and collected her thoughts to explain. "Dr. Gerald Nikolas, the same scientist I mentioned earlier..."

Sonic cut her off. "Did you say Nikolas?"

"Yes, why?" She asked.

"The mad scientist that took over my world was named Julian Nikolas. He later changed his name to Robotnik. But still, it's odd that they have the same last name." He said.

"Yes, that is strange." She said as she tried to figure out how it was that two mad scientists in two different dimensions could share the same name. "It must be a coincidence." She wasn't sure, but she stated it as a fact anyway.

"Yeah." Sonic tried to change his mental gears to get back on track with what they'd been talking about a moment earlier. "Anyway, continue."

"Right." She said before restarting her explanation. "Dr. Gerald Nikolas, the same scientist I mentioned earlier, was the leading researcher of what were known as the Anarchy Beryls. They sounded similar to what you call the Chaos Emeralds on your world. However, the Anarchy Beryls were very unstable sources of energy, and tapping into them usually destroyed whatever was using their power."

"One day," She continued, "Dr. Nikolas was running experiments on the seven Anarchy Beryls, trying to find a way to control their power so that they could be used for his various devices. For months he'd been saying he was close. Now it seemed like he was finally going to get what he wanted. He built a device to extract the energy from the seven Anarchy Beryls and store it so that it could be transferred in pieces. In activating the machine, he destroyed the actual Anarchy Beryls, but the energy was too unstable to be contained. The machine he was using for the experiment broke open, releasing the energy and manifesting itself in different forms. Seven Anarchy Beryls, Seven creatures born from the accident that came to be known as the Sons of Anarchy."

Sonic let out a sigh. "Phew, that's a lot to process!"

"I know it is." Blaze continued. "But thankfully it seems as though we'll only have to deal with one of them for now. Fleetway. Though, when Scourge gets back we'll have to handle him too."

Sonic let his mouth drop open. "Scourge, your teammate, is one of the Sons of Anarchy?"

Blaze nodded. "Yes, born from the destruction of the green Anarchy Beryl. He was at the lab the day of the incident, and he just so happens to have the Chaos Gene. After the explosion, one of the Beryls tried to use him the way Fleetway used you, but Scourge was able to harness it and now he uses its power to give him his speed and strength."

"I see." Sonic said. "So Scourge and Fleetway makes two. Who are the other five?"

"I don't know." Blaze said with a shrug. "I've never met any of them. Though I would assume that none of them are nice."

"Well, let's hope we don't come across them then." Sonic said as he decided to change the subject again. "So where do we go to find this teleporter Dr. Nikolas was working on?"

"It's in town, in his old lab. There's still a road that runs from this building over to his." Blaze said.

"Yeah, I'll never get used to that," Sonic said with a shrug, "your roads being attached to the roof."

"You mean you don't have your roads attached to the tops of your buildings? Then where do you put them? On the ground?" She asked.

"Yeah, actually we do." He replied.

"That makes no sense." Blaze shook her head. "Don't things grow up in the roadway then? Don't they get cluttered and dirty?"

Sonic laughed. "Yeah. They do I guess. But they don't have to be supported or maintained as heavily as the roads you have here."

"Ok, you got me there." She said with a smile.

The two continued to talk for about half an hour, comparing lives in the two dimensions and, eventually, deciding what to do about going to Nikolas' lab. As the sun set, Sonic laid down on the roof and thought about the days to come. And how, for better or worse, his life likely depended on what happened during those days.


	26. S2 - E07: Sentry

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 7**

"Alright, just move slowly and they may not detect you." Blaze said from behind cover to Tiara, who'd just stood up and was attempting to move passed a Guardian Sentry not too far away.

They were trying to move by one at a time so as to avoid detection. Unlike the more traditional Guardians that were artificially intelligent, the sentries were fully automated and contained only basic programming. They were floating robots with small wings on the sides and one large red eye in the middle of the body. Even though they weren't sentient, Sonic thought that they looked downright disturbing!

Sonic, who was standing on the other side of the street, had simply used his speed to get around the Sentry. He was now looking at the others as they tried to cross the street themselves without getting detected, they would come across one at a time. He could speed this up, he knew, by taking them across himself. However, he was lucky enough to not tip off the Sentry once, better to not press his luck. So he just stayed there and watched as the others attempted to make it without him.

At least it wasn't his decision alone; when he looked across at Blaze, she shook her head back and forth, letting him know she too thought it was too dangerous for him to come back and try to take them with him. At least that eased his mind a little.

Tiara took careful, laborious steps toward the other end of the street. As long as she was slow, she should be okay. Unfortunately for her, not everything would be alright after all. As she was about halfway across the street, a Guardian approached her from her right, and with the Sentry to her left, she had no choice but to break out into a dead sprint and hope for the best.

"STOP." The Guardian's voice called out to her, a loud and booming voice that resonated off of the buildings all around them and carried throughout the city to other Guardians that would be close enough to come and assist in the capture of these trespassers. The Guardian held up his hand and his palm split open, revealing an energy based weapon of some kind inside his arm which he pointed at Tiara as Sonic scooped her up and ran over to the group that was still waiting on the far side of the street.

Mighty charged the Guardian and went for the legs, sweeping his leg out and somehow hitting the Guardian with enough force to topple it over in spite of the fact that he was considerably smaller than it.

"Go, I'll covah you mate!" Knack shouted as Sonic came to a sliding stop next to the others.

And then, just as quick as he'd blasted across the street, he was back on the other side with Tiara and on his way back to grab Blaze. She waved him off as he approached and pointed to Mighty, who was dodging lumbering steps by rolling from side to side. Sonic nodded and dashed to Mighty's aid.

Sonic jumped into the air and turned his momentum into a razor sharp spin attack, careening into its chest and knocking it over backward, then landing on its chest where he proceeded to taunt the robot by yawning.

As Sonic jumped off of the Guardian's chest, he spotted Mighty throw some kind of disc into the air, which Blaze hit with a fireball, causing it to explode and take out the Sentry which had positioned itself to intercept Sonic's jump without him noticing.

Mighty then threw another disc up to Sonic, which he caught and redirected into a group of five more Guardians coming to stop them. Blaze followed its trajectory and hit that one as well, blowing it up in the face of the Guardians, who all stumbled backward from the blast, but kept on coming regardless.

"What does it take to stop these guys?" Sonic asked as he landed next to Mighty.

"A nuclear warhead probably." Mighty said in a sarcastic tone. "We don't know, but it's more than we've got."

"Great..." Sonic sighed.

As they prepared themselves for another round with the Guardians, Sonic spotted a column of steam rising from a factory not too far away. He nudged Mighty's shoulder and pointed to the steam cloud, asking: "Hey, what's that?"

His question was answered with a crack of thunder emanating from a seemingly random bolt of lightning jumping from a newly formed cloud to a street lamp right next to the two of them.

"Did that answer your question?" Mighty asked as he switched his gaze from Sonic to the factory.

"Cloud seeding..." Sonic said as the wheels in his head started turning. "They're trying to make it rain on us! We need to get to the factory pronto!" He exclaimed before blazing a trail to the factory right through yet another group of Guardians.

"Sonic wait!" Mighty called after him, but it was too late! He was already gone.

Blaze shouted across the street to Mighty. "We need to find cover from the rain!"

"No kiddin' Sheila!" Knack exclaimed as he shot down a sentry with his rifle. "But how we get theh without the Guardians followin' us?"

"We need to lose them somehow. Hold on!" She replied.

Blaze held her hand up in the air, letting a small flame come from her palm. Then she adjusted the flame until it started simply smoking. She used the smoke pouring out of her hand to create a cloud of smoke that they could move through without the Guardians noticing where they'd gone.

Tiara reached her hand out through the smoke and grabbed hold of Blaze's arm, latching on for dear life as Blaze drug her through the cloud to a nearby building that had apparently been some kind of second-hand store at one point.

As the air started to clear, they all breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed that the Guardians had lost them in the cloud. It didn't last long though, as they all turned to the factory Sonic had just dashed towards, attempting to surround it and trap him inside!

Blaze thought about trying to run out and intercept them, maybe get them off of Sonic long enough that he could get out of there. She thought better of it though. She was fast, strong, and very skilled, but that wouldn't mean anything against that many Guardians. A quick count proved her thought; there were at least twenty-five Guardians moving in on the factory.

As she crouched down behind a shelf of assorted plates covered with years of dust, she couldn't help but feel guilty for deciding to leave Sonic to his own devices. There must be something she could do.

Unfortunately, her train of thought was cut short as a loud crack of thunder sounded outside and the Guardians suddenly disappeared in a bright flash.

Blaze came up from behind the shelf to look out the front window more easily. As she rose, her teammates also rose from their positions to check what was going on as well. When she looked outside, her eyes searching through the freshly falling acid-rain, she wished she hadn't looked!

There, standing in the middle of the rainstorm, soaking it all in and holding the head of a Guardian, was Fleetway.

Blaze couldn't believe her eyes! What was he doing here? Just as she remembered not to expose herself to his line of sight, she saw him turn his glowing red eyes toward her and look straight at her!

She ducked back behind the shelf she was hiding behind, but she knew it was no good! He'd already seen her and was no doubt going to do something. As to what, she wasn't sure. But she knew it wouldn't be good!

Sure enough, just as she'd anticipated, he blasted through the front of the building. Bits of concrete and glass were spraying everywhere, even bouncing off of Fleetway. He didn't even notice it. He just smirked as he looked down at her.

Blaze tried to the best of her ability to contain her fear and exude confidence, but it was futile. Her heart was racing and her pupils were dilated from anxiety. What should she do now? Try to fight Fleetway? Try to run from him?

The real question, Blaze knew, was which path forward would lead to her survival, if any. She found herself speaking even before she knew what she was going to say. "What do you want?" She asked with sarcasm.

Fleetway smiled his evil smile as he replied. "To destroy everything! You, your friends, those robot things that are everywhere I look, Until I am the only thing remaining, making me the most powerful person in the universe by default!"

His comment sent a chill up Blaze's spine. Could it get any worse?


	27. S2 - E08: Twin Anarchy

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 8**

 **Author's Note: I want to thank everyone who's ever reviewed a chapter. It means a lot to me that you do that. I also appreciate it when you tell me what you like the most and what you think I should work on. I know that I have struggled with setting up a scene in the past and it's something that I still need to work on. If you have advice, particularly if you have writing experience, then please let me know. And again, thank you for the reviews, it keeps me writing.**

Scourge tapped his foot in annoyance. How long had it been now? They'd been waiting outside of Robotnik's base for what felt like forever! If it went on any longer he was pretty sure he'd snap!

The plan was that they would split up and one group would head up onto the roof to take care of the generator that was creating the barrier around the city. The other group, meanwhile, would wait for them to get in position, then slip into the building and get to the room where the generator was in an attempt to get access back to Scourge's dimension.

Scourge, since he knew both where the portal was and what it was like on the other side, had been put on team Rescue, albeit against his will. He wanted action! If he had it his way he'd go and take care of the S.W.A.T. Bots on the roof all by himself. He knew he could take 'em! I mean, come on! They couldn't be any tougher than the Guardians he'd faced back in his home dimension, could they?

Nevertheless, here he was, standing beside a couple of nerds, one of which was considerably overweight, the other far too weak to do anything himself, all of them waiting for a signal from the other group that would be completely lost without them. Oh, and there was the other green hedgehog too. What was his name again? Tyler right? Meh, it didn't really matter.

Finally, as if they'd had their fill of his misery, the other team sent the signal to move in. And so, not wasting any time, Scourge grabbed the other two who were standing right beside him and drug them inside at an impressive speed that probably would've clocked in at just under Mach one! Then he dropped them off, dashed back outside, grabbed Tyler, then dashed back inside at the same insane speed.

"So what now?" Scourge asked impatiently.

"Now we try to open the portal." Tails said as he motioned his head to the side to indicate what looked like a giant ring. "I take it that's the portal over there?"

"Yeah, that's it." Scourge said.

"Hang on, let me see if I can help." Tyler said, focusing on the Chaos Emerald in the chamber to their left. He jumped into the computer that was connected to the device and got to work trying to start up the dimensional portal.

Rotor ran over to the portal while Tails started examining the Chaos Emerald chamber and the computer systems that were hooked up to it in an effort to understand what exactly was going on. Rotor simply scratched his head in confusion. "I have no idea how this works. I think maybe quantum science is beyond me."

"Really..." Scourge said mockingly. "Maybe inter-dimensional travel is beyond a mechanic after all."

"Oh come on," Rotor complained, "I thought it would be mostly automated!"

Just then, Tyler jumped back out of the computer and landed right next to Rotor. "It kinda is." He said. "The switch is just not as obvious as you might think."

"Wait, you figured that out in the five seconds you were inside that thing?" Scourge asked as he shook his head in disbelief.

Tyler nodded. "Yep. It has to do with Supercomputers and the perception of time and reality while inside them... long story." He waved his hands to indicate he wasn't able to explain it at the time.

"Well, you're the one that seems to know about how this machine works," Tails started to say, "How do we get Sonic back?"

Tyler traced his eyes along the side of the machine and over to a console not too far from where Scourge was leaning against the wall. He pointed to the terminal. "There, on that console. It's a small blue lever that says 'engage' right below it."

Scourge leaned over slightly and examined the console, finally finding the lever that Tyler indicated to him. "Seems too easy..." He said skeptically. Nevertheless, he pulled the lever and waited.

Slowly, the disc in front of them started to spin and several lights came on around it to indicate that it was operational. Tyler moved in front of the disc and waited for the portal to open, mentally counting down the seconds until it opened. Just as it started to glow, he could feel the Chaos Energy flowing through the room and directly into the machine to power the inter-dimensional portal.

The feeling that surrounded him was intimidating; so much power coming from one small gem! He now realized that he didn't really know the limits of the Chaos Emerald's power after all. It was certainly more than he used when he jumped back and forth between the virtual world and the real one!

As the device reached top speed, Tyler realized that only moments had passed, though it felt like a couple of minutes. He paused; the device seemed like it was spinning slower than it had been. Odd... NO, wait! The Chaos Energy was manipulating time and space around him! Time was being stretched and space was being compressed to create a bridge between two worlds! Incredible!

The portal opened in front of him, revealing a devastated world on the other side. It seemed like the portal was about fifteen or twenty feet deep, even though the wall was right behind it; another illusion created by the bending of space, he thought. And there, standing on the other side of the portal, was a glowing yellow Sonic! He was right there!

"Sonic!" Tails yelled at normal speed. It was because of Tails' exclamation that Tyler realized time had returned to normal.

The yellow Sonic turned to face them, a purple cat held in his grasp. Scourge recognized his former teammate and dashed into action immediately!

He sprinted forward, dashing through the portal and tackling the yellow hedgehog without a second thought. But, as he landed atop the other, he was thrown to the side and into the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him! He not only realized it wasn't Sonic, in spite of never having seen him, he knew who it was. A being made out of pure Anarchy Energy, another one of the seven Sons of Anarchy.

"Well well, looks like the two of us have something in common eh?" Scourge said as he took a deep breath. "This outta be fun!" He taunted with his right hand. "Come and get me."

"Be careful Scourge," Blaze coughed out of her sore throat, "He's more powerful than he looks..."

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Ok?" Scourge said sarcastically. Then he dashed out of the front door of the shop and out into the streets, slaloming between falling drops of acid rain as he sprinted through the city. Fleetway wasted no time, giving chase immediately.

Blaze turned and looked through the tunnel at the two individuals standing on the other side. "Can you hear me?" She asked in a near-shout.

"Yeah." Tails shouted back. "I'm Tails, this is Rotor." He paused, then got straight to the point. "Do you know where Sonic is?" He asked.

Blaze nodded. "Yes, he went to turn off a weather machine in an attempt to keep it from raining on us. He's in a factory not far from here."

Tails excitedly flew through the portal and landed next to Blaze only a moment later. "Where's the factory?" He asked excitedly.

Blaze stood up from her hiding spot and pointed out through the glass doors and to a factory over in the distance. "He was headed over there."

Tails opened his mouth to speak, then noticed the rain eating small holes in the various metal statues around town. He closed his mouth to think, then asked a question. "That's acid rain isn't it?"

Blaze nodded again. "Yes, we've had acid rain here for the last few years." She turned back to Tails to ask him a question in turn. "Is that a portal back to Sonic's dimension then?"

Tails smiled and replied: "Yeah, we opened it to get Sonic back home. We really need his help!"

"Yes, he told me what was going on over there, it doesn't sound good." She said.

Knack walked over to Tails and shook his hand. "Nice to meet ya mate. Name's Knack. Any chance can go back through the' and stay with you guys? Not much left he'." Knack said in his slightly broken English.

"Well, I guess we could use your help too." Tails said. "Head through the portal and talk to Rotor, he's the walrus with the backwards ball cap. He could probably use your help."

Knack nodded his head. "Roight."

Tails watched Knack jump through the portal, then turned back to Blaze. "So what needs to be done over here then?"

"Well, Sonic is turning off the weather machine." Blaze said. "Other than getting him, Tiara and Scourge to come back through the portal with us, nothing really."

Tails was taken aback. "You mean you don't need help stopping the acid rain problem or finding the other members of society to take to safety or make sure that they'll be safe here?"

"Nope." Blaze dropped her head. "This world is lost, it has been for years." Her tone was very solemn. She looked at Tails as she held back tears. "The longer we stay here, the more risk we run of losing someone else."

Tails could tell that she was thinking of something specific, so he tried his best to change her thoughts. "Hey, where's Tiara anyway?" He asked.

Blaze lifted her head, her thoughts clearing as she tried to focus. "Mighty." She called out.

Tails looked off to his right where he saw a red and black armadillo come into view. He had a very serious expression on his face.

"I haven't seen her since we ran in here to get out of the rain. I have no idea where she is." He said.

Blaze frowned. The Guardians hadn't come into the building, and it didn't seem like Fleetway had a chance to drag her away somewhere. Her eyes grew wide with realization. She ran over to the glass doors in the front of the store and peered out through the glass and beyond the rain to see Tiara running through the rain and holding a piece of metal shelving from inside the store over her head.

"I found her." Blaze said as she pointed out the door at the small figure running off into the distance toward the water vapor spewing factory.


	28. S2 - E09: Interdimensional

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 9**

Scourge slid underneath of the legs of a Guardian while continuing to dash through the city at far more than the speed of sound. He was going so fast that when he looked to his left or right all he could see was colored streaks.

He juked back and forth, weaving between as many acidic rain drops as he could. Granted, some of them did brush against him, causing a burning sensation wherever they did so, but he simply shrugged it off and kept running. He couldn't let up now!

Fleetway was right behind him, picking up speed and plowing through every drop of rain in his way. It didn't damage his skin or hurt him one bit. He kept his eye on Scourge, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Scourge jumped up and sailed over the top of an old rusty fountain, landed on the other side of it, and dashed up the side of a gray building, stepping to the side as he reached the top to avoid the road that was connected there, and then stopped on the roof. Well, he didn't really stop, he was moving back and forth in roughly the same area to keep the rain from hitting him.

He took a quick moment to examine his surroundings. It was a concrete roof, a road both in front of and behind him, some exposed ductwork off to the right, and a vent spewing water vapor in front of him. He took a breath, and tried to ready himself. In that moment, the water vapor stopped spewing out of the vent, and its roof-level grate was exposed.

Fleetway came to a stop on the roof right on the vent, his glowing red eyes seemingly drilling into Scourge. He waited for a moment, then walked forward slowly as he spoke in a rough and menacing voice. "What now? Run out of energy?"

"You wish you overgrown glowstick!" Scourge replied sarcastically. "Actually, I wanted you to know where you're standing." He gestured toward the vent that Fleetway was standing over. "You see, I've been waiting for the perfect moment, running around the city for several minutes until..." He paused.

A spray of water vapor spouted up from the vent that Fleetway was standing on, knocking him up into the air and making him vulnerable! And that one moment was all that Scourge needed!

He jumped up into the air, spinning around to plant his feet firmly on Fleetway's chest. Then he started moving his feet quickly, as if he were running, the bottoms of his boots only barely scraping Fleetway's gut, but doing so at an incredibly fast rate, the friction creating serious heat! Then Scourge flipped mid-air and kicked Fleetway square in the jaw, sending him reeling into the clouds overhead. That wasn't all that Scourge had though, as he drew the Anarchy Beryl's energy inside of him into one concentrated mass and clapped his hands together to send a green bolt of lightning shooting into the sky after Fleetway, no doubt frying every last hair on his body. Scourge couldn't be sure though, as he couldn't see Fleetway through the clouds.

He slammed down on the roof of the factory they'd been standing on and collapsed into a tealish lump of flesh and bone, nearly all of his energy exhausted in his last attack. After a moment, he picked his head up and looked up to the sky to stare at the clouds pouring searing drops of acid rain onto his weakened skin.

He stared for a few moments, biting his bottom lip to fight the pain he felt everywhere else. Then, just as he was about to pick himself up off of the roof, he saw a small golden object float down gently through the cloud layer. No, it couldn't be! It was! Fleetway was gently floating down from the sky, descending towards the roof!

"Dangit!" Scourge exclaimed as he scampered to his feet and over to a roof access door not far from him to get out of the rain. Better to take the fight inside and see what could be done in there than staying up here and letting the rain eat him away.

Scourge ran inside, though not quite at his normal speed, and down the stairway that was just on the other side of the door. He stopped when he reached the main area as his head was nearly taken off by a detatched head of a Guardian. "Hey!" He exclaimed reflexively. He looked down to the factory floor to see who the perpetrator was, and then froze.

There, standing on the floor in the middle of a group of Guardians, was a blue hedgehog not too dissimilar in appearance from himself. It looked like he was trying to get to the weather machine that was in the middle of the factory floor.

"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed when he spotted Scourge up on the balcony. "You gonna stand there, or you gonna give me a hand?" He asked.

Scourge was still quite exhausted from his last efforts to get rid of Fleetway, but he jumped down towards Sonic anyway. A few Guardians shouldn't be too hard to handle, especially with help.

He landed on the other side of the factory from where Sonic was and all of the Guardians turned to face him instead of focusing on Sonic like they had been. It was the last mistake they'd make!

Sonic jumped into action immediately upon spotting his opportunity. He lunged forward and jumped into the air, sticking out one leg and spinning around to kick the heads of two more Guardians. The other Guardians turned back to Sonic, obviously confused as to how they were supposed to handle both of them.

Sonic was preparing for yet another attack when a golden flash filled the room and the Guardians fell into several tiny pieces. He raised his head up to the glowing yellow hedgehog standing on top of the light ballast that, height wise, was about three stories up.

In yet another flash, Fleetway appeared between Sonic and Scourge, a wicked smile on his face.

* * *

"And what about you?" Mighty asked as he stood in front of the portal, his head turned back toward Blaze.

Blaze, her arms crossed, had a very determined look on her face. "I'm staying here to help Sonic, Scourge, and Tiara. Once I get them, we'll be coming through ourselves."

Mighty nodded slowly. "Ok." He jumped through the portal without giving it any more thought, leaving Blaze alone to do what she needed to do.

As she watched him walk out of view of the portal, Blaze suddenly realized how imposing the world around her was. Virtually everything around her, even the rain, wanted her dead! Not only that, the only people who could help her were elsewhere in the city, leaving her alone to deal with Guardians, Fleetway, and whatever else came her way!

She took a deep breath as she stepped away from the portal, then turned her head to look out over the rainy cityscape before her. As she took it all in, she narrowed her thoughts down to one question. How could she get to the other side of the city as fast as possible with acid rain overhead?

She closed her eyes in thought and weighed her options, not wanting to rush into a bad decision. What could she do that wouldn't put her in extreme danger? She could use the metal shelving like Tiara did. That would be cumbersome. The fastest way would be to use the streets overhead. But that would expose her to the rain. Wait, she was a pyrokinetic. That meant that she could create a barrier of fire over her head and use it to evaporate the rain before it hit her. Yes, that's what she would do.

Quickly, she moved up to the roof, dashing up the steps at an impressive speed, though not as fast as Sonic or Scourge. She came to a stop at the top of the staircase and stood before the roof access door, waiting to go outside until she'd created a sufficient flame barrier over her head. She focused her attention on making a horizontal wall of flame to hang over her and keep her dry. Once she'd made a cover of sufficient size, she nodded in satisfaction and opened the door to the roof.

She stepped outside and waited for a moment, hoping that there would be no telltale stinging of the acid rain getting through her barrier. Thankfully, there were no such sensations on her skin. Looking up at the flames whipping around above her head, she made one final examination, then took off toward the factory in the distance, moving in excess of two hundred miles per hour. No, she wasn't as fast as Sonic, or Scourge for that fact of the matter, but she was considerably faster than most. And, if she kept up this pace, she would make it to the factory in only a few minutes.

* * *

Mighty looked over at Rotor as he stepped out of the portal and into this strange and foreign world. "What do I do? How can I help?" He asked enthusiastically. He was excited to be somewhere where his actions could possibly make a difference!

Rotor was taken aback by his excitement, but only for a moment. Once he recovered, he pointed up. "The others are trying to disable a generator on the roof that is keeping us trapped inside the city. We need to take it down ASAP!" He said quickly, gesturing with his other hand to indicate Mighty should hurry. "The faster you get up there the better, they're gonna need your help for sure."

"And you?" Mighty asked.

"I'm gonna stay here and watch the portal to make sure it doesn't close on the others." Rotor explained.

"Right, of course." Mighty said. He felt bad leaving first Blaze, then Rotor alone. But, what had to be done had to be done. He nodded to Rotor, wishing him a silent "good luck," then went on his way.

He ran out into the hall and down to the end where an elevator shaft waited for him. He pried the door open and jumped out into the shaft, grabbing hold of the cable in the middle. He then started quickly making his way up the shaft, hand over hand, floor after floor, moving towards the top. As he neared the top, he heard a crackling noise, and then a voice.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" The voice called.

Mighty looked around, not knowing where it'd come form.

"Yes," the voice called out again, "you in the elevator shaft."

Mighty identified the voice coming from a small device on the wall. It must've been a speaker of some kind. "What?" He asked in a shout that echoed up and down the elevator shaft.

"You are so ignorant. Don't you know that the elevators in this building still work?" The voice asked.

Mighty's eyes went wide! He didn't even stop to think about it because all of the elevators in his dimension had stopped working long ago. He was about to jump to the nearby elevator door when he heard a thunk that was quickly followed by a loud scraping and grinding noise. He raised his head up to see the bottom of the elevator plummeting toward him!


	29. S2 - E10: Powering Down

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 10**

Mighty looked up to see the bottom of the elevator coming down on him! He had no time! Thinking on his feet, he started sliding down the cable in the shaft as fast as he could! He wasn't going to even reach the bottom before the elevator did, let alone be able to swing over to one of the doors on the side of the shaft without getting smashed! If only he'd thought of the fact that maybe elevators over here actually worked, unlike his home dimension, where all of the elevators had been abandoned for over a decade and no longer worked.

Just as he braced for impact, the elevator suddenly slowed. It had been stopped by the emergency brakes! But it didn't last. Someone, likely the owner of the gruff voice he'd heard earlier, cut the brakes and let the elevator freefall!

He looked up in panic as he continued his rapid descent of the shaft. It was free falling now, and would crush him within moments! He touched the bottom of the shaft and tucked into a hemispherical shape by ducking inside his shell. He braced for impact!

SLAM! The elevator came down on his head, crushing him!

Mighty raised his head up into the trashed elevator car that had just come down on his head. He pulled himself through the hole in the floor and stood up inside to dust himself off. If not for his incredibly hard shell, he would've been toast!

After making sure nothing was hurting, he jumped up and knocked the emergency door open on the top of the car and climbed out. Then he jumped up and grabbed onto the cable and started climbing again. Thankfully, he was an excellent climber and was at the top of the shaft after only a few more minutes. Hopefully that time spent in avoiding the elevator car wouldn't break the operation going on up on the roof.

Once he reached the top, he wrapped his leg around the cable and stretched across the distance to the wall, grabbing onto the threshold of the door to the top floor. He let go with his legs and swung to the wall, then he simply scurried up the short distance to the door and pried it open to step through to the top floor.

He stepped out into a bright white hallway that took him by surprise. This was so much cleaner and much better maintained than the rusty and broken world he'd been living in since he was born! He didn't let it slow him too much though, as he still had to make it up to the roof.

He jogged down the hallway, breathing heavily from the climb he'd just made. As he came to a stairway, he turned and ducked inside the stairwell, but there was no roof access from this point. He was apparently in the wrong stairwell.

He didn't even turn around. Running over to the landing, he jumped out the window, crashing through and sending glass spraying everywhere. Mid-flight, he reached up and grabbed onto the top of the window frame. Gripping it firmly, he flipped himself around in a semicircular arc to land belly first on the roof and found himself relatively undamaged, save for a handful of cuts on his arms and hands.

He rolled over to his back quickly, then leaned back on his hands before swinging his body forward in the air to land on his feet in a crouching position. He swept his eyes across the roof to see what was going on.

He saw several individuals surrounding a small gray device in the middle of the roof. It seemed that they were trying to get around the robots that were standing guard over the device. If he could just find a way through the robot's defenses then he could turn it off and remove the barrier that surrounded the city.

Mighty yelled out to the group. "Hey, what's their weakness?"

Several in the group turned around very surprised. Among them, however, was Knack, who'd already integrated himself into the fight. It was him that called back. "Get in undah the' chest plates an' rip out the' wiyuhs." He said in a shout of his own.

Mighty nodded and ran forward to insert himself into the conflict, jumping up and over a red echidna that'd just been knocked backward by the robots, landing in front of him in a battle ready pose.

Mighty took one big step forward and planted his hands on the sides of one of the robots, ripping at the chest plate Knack mentioned, but it wouldn't budge! He shook his head and bared his teeth as he instead lifted the bot up and over his head and slammed it down on the roof in a nasty piledriver! Then he jumped on top of the bot and used one hand to lift the corner of the plate with all his might, thrusting his hand inside to get to the softer wiring, grabbing hold of it, and ripping out as much as he could in one handful.

As he stood up, he could see two more bots on either side of him! He prepared himself for another takedown, but the one on his left fell down before he could act. He could see the echidna standing behind it with a handful of his own wires as the bot fell before him.

Mighty got an idea. "Hey spikey fisty guy, you strong?" He asked shortly.

"My name is Knuckles, and yes." Knuckles said, answering the question and getting the useless nickname out of the way in the process.

"All right then Knuckles," Mighty said as he jumped toward him, "throw me at that thing as hard as you can!" Then he tucked himself inside of his shell.

Mighty took a breath and waited for only a heartbeat before he felt himself hurtling through the air toward the hapless bot! Within a second he hit the bot at full force, plowing through its chest and leaving a sparking hole behind. His momentum was cut drastically by the impact, slowing him enough to keep him from sliding off the roof entirely, though he did have to grab the edge as he slid off to keep himself from falling to his death.

He clutched the edge of the roof with his left hand and looked down passed his feet to see the ground swaying about a hundred feet down. Letting out a sigh, Mighty lifted himself over the edge of the roof once again and got to his feet as soon as he could, not wanting to leave himself open for a surprise attack.

Once he stood up, he took a quick count of the bots that were left. There were two off to his right and one to his left, three total. Yeah, they could totally do this!

Off to Mighty's left was Tails who was doing his best to not get knocked into next century by the S.W.A.T. Bot's massive arms! He ducked under its right arm as it swung once more, his tails grazing the underside of the arm as it whooshed by. He jumped up and floated mid-air by spinning his tails underneath him to create lift, then kicked the bot in the chest. It barely moved.

Tails cringed from the thought that he could do little to nothing against these tank like bots. Still, he refused to give up hope! Maybe he could help someone else.

"Tails, watch yer head!" Bunnie yelled from off to his right. She slid under the legs of a S.W.A.T. Bot and extended her robotic right hand to catch the bot's arm and pull herself up in front of Tails between him and the bot that'd just tried to catch him off guard.

She thrust her hand up behind its chest plate and straight through the body to come out the other side holding a handful of wires. The lights in the S.W.A.T. Bot's elongated eye flickered out and Bunnie pulled her hand back to let it fall to the ground.

"Thanks Bunnie." Tails said as he let out a sigh. "That was a close one!"

"Don't y'all worry yer pretty lil' face Tails." Bunnie replied kindly. "Just watch yer back next tahm. All rahght?"

"Yeah, sure." Tails rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. He looked in the direction she'd come from to see Knuckles and Mighty dropping the last of the S.W.A.T. Bots, effectively giving them the roof to themselves.

As Nicole walked over to the device to disable it, Sally approached Knack to ask him about her friends. "So, you came from another dimension like Scourge did right?" She asked.

"Yeh." Knack replied shortly. "If askin' 'bout Sonic, I don' know sheila. Last I saw he wen' to the fact'ry to take out some koind ah weather machine. I came o'er 'ere 'fore had a chance tah come back."

Sally noted that although Knack's broken English made it seem like he was slow or unintelligent, that was hardly the case. He actually seemed to be somewhat quick-witted and caught on to things pretty easily. "Well." She said in reply. "That is what I was going to ask." She paused for a moment before speaking again. "How many more of your group are there? There's at least You, Scourge, and Mighty over there." She gestured toward the Armadillo with her head. "How many more?"

"Two." Knack said quickly, then shook his head as his ears drooped a little. "Er... one mohre. We loss one 'long the way."

Sally's expression changed from one of casualness to one of empathy. "I'm sorry." She opened her mouth to say more but was cut off by a crowd full of cheers behind her as the barrier that had trapped them in here for so long slowly dissipated, allowing them a means of escape.

"Well, least 'eres some good news eh?" Knack said as he perked up a little.

"Yeah." She said with a smirk.

Meanwhile Mighty turned his head from the clearing sky over to the two-tailed fox standing not too far away. "How'd you get here so fast?" He asked.

Tails turned and faced him before replying. "I jumped through just before you did. After that, it was just a simple matter of finding the nearest window and jumping out. I can fly up a lot faster than I can climb stairs!"

"Heh, so that's why I didn't see you in the building when I got back. You were already making your way up to the roof." Mighty said in a moment of clarification.

"Yep. I wanted to get up here as fast as possible just in case they needed my help." Tails said with a smile. "Though I guess they really didn't. I don't think I really helped all that much."

"Not true." Mighty said cheerfully. "At the very least you gave those bots an extra target, and a hard to hit one at that."

Tails smiled himself. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He turned his head up to the sky and watched as the last remnants of the barrier faded from existence. Little did he know that there was still much left to do.


	30. S2 - E11: Getting the Band Back Together

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 11**

Sonic jumped over Fleetway in an attempt to keep him between him and Scourge. It was kind of working, but it was also kind of not working. Fleetway was faster than both of them and was making it plainly obvious that it wouldn't be easy to take him down. What Fleetway didn't know was that they had backup.

In the couple of minutes that had passed since the start of the fight, both Blaze and Tiara had made their way into the factory and were hiding behind a set of crates that Sonic was very careful to keep the fight away from. No doubt, Sonic thought to himself, the two were just waiting for the right opportunity to jump in and turn the tide of battle, and he trusted them to make that judgment.

Scourge rolled to his left and behind the shell of a fallen Guardian. He ended up on his back after the maneuver, giving him the opportunity to kick the husk toward Fleetway. He thrust his right heel into the side of the downed robot which sent it flying through the air and straight into Fleetway's back. Then he jumped to his feet and charged in right after the projectile, hoping there wouldn't be any opening for Fleetway to turn and counter. He managed to land a kick on Fleetway's head before he could turn around but it was far too soft to do much good.

Sonic dashed forward and planted his right hand on the ground, using it as a pivot point and spinning around it with his right leg extended to take out Fleetway's legs. His attack connected shortly after Scourge's, leaving Fleetway reeling and spinning around on his back as he careened across the floor to the far end of the factory floor.

As he lifted his head he saw Sonic, Scourge, and Blaze, who'd decided now was the best time to join in the fight, all jumping through the air at him in an attempt to overwhelm him. He'd had enough!

Fleetway flipped to his feet, doing several rapid frontflips and landing on his feet before finding his footing and flipping the other direction, kicking Sonic, who was on his left, and Scourge, who was on his right, right in their noses. Then, mid flip and with the realization that Blaze had under jumped, he kicked his legs out behind him and thrust himself downward on top of her, balling his hands together into one large sledgehammer and dropping himself down on her head.

Blaze hit the concrete hard enough to knock her out for a few seconds, and when her consciousness returned, she pulled herself dizzily to her feet and put one hand on her throbbing head. She looked off to her left where what seemed like two Sonic's were fighting a blurry Fleetway at a speed that was far too fast for her to keep up with. All she could make out was a flurry of punches and kicks from both parties. Must be double vision.

Scourge stood off to the side of that conflict, wondering when exactly he should jump in. He risked a glance at Blaze, noting her wobbly legs and distant expression; and also the large purple mark on her forehead. He cringed a little at the sight of it, but quickly returned his gaze to the blurry mess in front of him.

Tiara, meanwhile, was still crouched behind a stack of dusty old crates with undiscernable red markings on the side of it, probably the remnants of a shipping label of some kind. She was trembling and having second (and third) thoughts about coming here to help. But, deep down inside, she knew that she should do anything she could to help her friends, it's what any good person should do... right? Or was she just delusional and here in a misguided attempt to assist, only to fall at the hands of that glowing monster? She shook her head before that train of thought went any further. She didn't want to think about it. And besides, it was too late now.

Fleetway jumped away from Sonic and took a breath as Sonic stood a few feet away from him, panting in exhaustion. It was quite obvious who was winning the fight, as Fleetway himself only seemed a little winded.

As both of them paused for a moment, Fleetway broke the silence, speaking, not to Sonic, but to Scourge. "So. Where did you come from then? I saw that portal you jumped through."

"Don't answer him!" Sonic commanded through his gasping breath.

Scourge, not seeing the issue here, answered the question anyway. "From another dimension, one you won't have the luxury of touching!"

Sonic winced. Fleetway was just the kind of person to take a challenge. If he decided that that's what Scourge's comment was...

Unfortunately for him, Fleetway smirked in reply. "Really? And you're going to stop me how?" He paused, letting his words hang in the air as if for dramatic effect. Then he continued. "Let's see what's on the other side, shall we?" He disappeared in a flash, leaving Sonic and the others alone in the factory with only broken guardians and useless crates to keep them company.

Sonic groaned as he hit his face with his palm. "Ughh... you idiot. Fleetway just dashed over to the portal to head into my dimension!"

"Hey!" Scourge protested. "Look, I just came back over here to fight him and save you!. If not for me then you'd be dead!"

Blaze held up her arms towards both of them, interrupting the argument. She said woozily: "Hey, stop. Both of you. Arguing won't help anyone." She turned toward Sonic, her head spinning in the process and nearly causing her to fall over. "What do you think we should do?"

Sonic took a deep breath. "Well... step one is obvious. We need to get back to my dimension."

"Oh... thank you for your brilliance!" Scourge said sarcastically.

Sonic glared at Scourge but made no comment.

"Ok then." Tiara chimed in as she came around the corner of the stack of crates she'd used as a shelter. "Let's go!"

Sonic nodded and picked her up so that they could move swiftly. Scourge did the same to Blaze so that she wouldn't have to handle maneuvering at high speeds with her concussion. Taking a deep breath, Sonic took off, following Scourge and Blaze to the portal. It only took about five seconds to get back across town, hop through it, and land on the other side, much to Sonic's relief.

As they acquainted themselves with their new surroundings, Sonic found it odd that nobody was manning the portal from this side. It had simply been left on!

"Huh, guess the other guys left." Scourge said with a shrug.

Sonic let out a breath in relief. "Thank goodness. Fleetway wouldn't have left them here alive when he came through." He turned toward Scourge who was, strangely, the only one who had any idea as to what was going on here. "Where are the others?"

Scourge pointed to the ceiling. "On the roof turning off some kinda machine."

"We best hurry." Blaze said as she started walking toward the door. "If Fleetway is looking for victims, then he's probably up there with them."

Both of the hedgehogs nodded and moved to follow Blaze out into the hall and up to the roof. They walked through several hallways and walked up several more flights of stairs before they finally surfaced, coming out onto the roof and walking into a crowd of high-spirited individuals.

As they approached the group, it became clear to them that Fleetway hadn't come up here. Though, to be honest, how could he possibly know that they were here? He must've gone down instead, though, toward what, Sonic wasn't sure.

Sally noticed the approaching group and, along with Tails, rushed up to meet the group. After they started toward them, however, the rest followed suit.

She gave Tiara a quick hug, then walked over to Sonic. "You've been missed Sonic." She said nonchalantly. "My plan making skills have missed your unique skill set." The way her tone came through was quite odd, sounding very formal, yet in such a way as to be almost a joke.

Sonic just smirked in reply. Then, much to his surprise, Sally smirked back. He was about to introduce her to the others when he felt someone nearly tackle him from his right and then start squeezing. It was Tails.

"I missed you Sonic." He said as he slowly loosened his tight grip.

"I missed you too little buddy." Sonic replied as he ruffled Tails fur on the top of his head.

"Stop that!" Tails objected. "You know I don't like it when you do that."

"Right, I forgot." Sonic said with a chuckle as he again ruffled Tails fur.

"Did a golden hedgehog come through here?" Blaze asked, interrupting the reunion.

Sally rubbed her chin in thought. "No, not that I can remember. Why?"

"He came through the portal just before we did." Sonic explained. "He's bad news." There was a note of fear combined with disgust in his voice.

"Well, Rotor was supposed to be watching the portal." Sally turned toward the walrus that had joined them on the roof just a moment ago. "Rotor?"

"Right, I forgot." He started to say. "I came up here to make sure that you guys were alright. Before I went back down to the portal, Sonic and Tiara came up. They must've come in behind me.

"Well, if he didn't go up... And it doesn't look like he's come out of the building so..." Scourge used several incomplete sentences to convey his train of thought.

"Right." Sonic chimed in.

"He must've gone down." Both Sonic and Sally said at the same time. They looked at each other. Then Sally said: "It's the only thing that makes sense." To which Sonic nodded in agreement.

Sonic spoke up to the whole group. "Alright everybody. Let's go We've got another maniac to stop."

Surprisingly, everyone started moving to the stairs, following Sonic without question. Even Scourge, though he did hesitate first. It was quite impressive, and Sally took note.

She walked over to Tiara, who was in the back of the group, and asked: "What happened to you guys over there?"

Tiara dropped her head. "We ran into Blaze and her team and tried our best to help them, and they tried to help us. At first it was fine, until we made it to Fleetway City. We lost Ray there, Fleetway killed him. It shook everybody pretty hard. I mean, just imagine if we went to another town and came across a nearly invincible person who killed Tails in cold blood. That's kind of what happened to us.

"To make things worse, " she continued, "Fleetway continued to give us trouble after that. He followed us back to our hideout and attacked us the moment we were trapped. If not for Scourge's interruption, then Blaze would be dead too. Now Sonic, Scourge, and Blaze to an extent, have all fought Fleetway extensively. Fighting someone that powerful and that evil is life changing."

When Tiara finally stopped, Sally gave her time to catch her figurative breath before trying to lift her spirits. "That sounds terrible! Still, going over there couldn't have been all bad. After all, we now have more allies, which is exactly what we need! And now that the team is this big, Fleetway should be easier to deal with. Besides, you got to spend a little more time with Sonic..." Sally nudged Tiara's arm, managing to get a smirk out of her. "Well, what happened?"

"Nothing really." Tiara said, surprising even herself. "To be honest, I thought that spending more time with Sonic would allow me to get to know him better and maybe start to like him a little more. Instead... eh. I mean, he is nice, but the more I tried to get to know him, the more the crush kinda... died. He's a great friend, but I don't really think we would work as a 'couple.'"

"Well that's a shocker!" Sally said.

Tiara sighed. "His energy and enthusiasm is exciting, but it can be just a little too much for me to handle. He'd just make me tired." She paused, then slowly let a smug grin cross her face. "I do know who he'd be perfect for though."

Sally asked "Who?" but already had an idea of where Tiara was going with this.

"You." Tiara said simply.

Sally smirked and shook her head. "Of course."

"No, really." Tiara started. "You're the one who was always spent summer afternoons at the Acorn Palace complaining that life was boring and that you wanted a little excitement and adventure in your life. Sonic is literally what you used to tell me you wanted. I'm just saying."

"Yeah, you're right." Sally conceded. "I did. But there's a lot more to a relationship than just being exciting."

"Yep. I know." Tiara said. But she still held that smug expression on her face. "I'll leave that to you. Right now though, let's take care of Fleetway. Then we'll finish this conversation."


	31. S2 - E12: The Showdown

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 12**

An iron door that hides a secret behind its hinges rests at the bottom of a dark staircase in the basement of a building a psychopath calls home. Having descended the other floors and checking them one by one, this was all that was left. A portal to the sub-basement, usually just used for storage. What lied behind it? No one knows.

Well, that's not entirely true. Max knows. So does Scourge. The others have an idea, having been told by the two. It's a tunnel dug out underneath of the city and filled to the brim with S.W.A.T. Bots.

Sally, in making their plans earlier, had made a point of not coming down here. And for good reason! Even with the entire team together once again, a few thousand S.W.A.T. Bots were too much for them to handle.

Nevertheless, here they were, waiting for someone to open the door and let them enter to meet their collective demise. But, no one moved. They all just looked at each other.

Finally, Mighty spoke up. "Well... could somebody open the door?"

Antoine, ever the coward, replied through chattering teeth: "I am not zinking zis eez ze course of ze best options!"

"We don't have any choice Antoine." Sonic said with little regard for his friend's paranoia.

Antoine opened his mouth to protest again but was brushed aside by Knuckles, who shouldered his way to the front of the group and put his hand on the handle. "Are you guys ready?" He asked the group.

Though no one spoke up, there was a collective halfhearted nod. So he spun the handle, opening the door and exposing them to whatever lay inside.

They stepped through and saw the huge tunnel that took up the entire wall on the far side of the room, probably about twenty feet wide, and nine feet tall at least. The tunnel extended far beyond the end of their line of sight, cutting through sewer lines, water pipes, electric cables, and other assorted things as it continued on seemingly endlessly.

As they took in the 'sights', Sonic noticed a small yellow speck at the far end of the tunnel. He let out a pained sigh and waited for the inevitable. Sure enough, a split-second later, Fleetway was hovering over the group and glaring at them with every ounce of menace he could muster.

"You don't give up. Do you?" Fleetway asked as he stared Sonic down.

Sonic took a deep breath and stepped forward to face Fleetway and to make sure that there was no one else in his immediate vicinity, just in case. He set his face to the hardest edge he could bring to bear, glaring at Fleetway with a lazer-like intensity that cracked his facade of impenetrable strength just a bit. He said nothing.

"You're a pitiful fool!" Fleetway growled. But still Sonic showed no signs of cracking.

Fleetway let out a powerful roar and charged at Sonic who sidestepped and kicked Fleetway in the back as he passed, causing him to end up running head first into the wall behind the blue hero. He pulled himself off of the wall and turned to face Sonic again.

Sonic kept his expression rock solid as he said: "You're in the wrong city pal!" Then it was his turn to charge his adversary.

He jumped toward Fleetway and latched onto his shoulders. Then he thrust himself to the side to rip Fleetway down to the ground and end up on top of him. He raised his right hand in a fist to hit Fleetway with all his strength, but Fleetway struck first, blasting red lasers from his pupils and burning Sonic's raised arm before he could get in a strike.

Sonic was forced to retreat a handful of steps from the blast, leaving Fleetway room enough to regain his footing and return to neutral ground. He readied himself for another attack on Sonic but was hit from behind by a massive punch from Knuckles that sent him flying over Sonic and up into the ceiling of the tunnel at the far end of the room. Sonic nodded his appreciation to Knuckles for his help, then moved to Fleetway to keep up the attack.

He dashed toward the grounded hedgehog, jumping up and rolling into a ball mid-air, then unrolling and swinging his right foot out in a vicious axe kick that connected square on Fleetway's head as he pulled himself up.

Fleetway growled, then roared in anger. Then he disappeared in a flash right out from underneath of Sonic.

Sonic couldn't see him anywhere. Where did he go?

Fleetway appeared behind Sonic's friends, then connected blow after blow, knocking them all out in just one powerful strike each. First he hit Antoine in the back of the head, then Rotor, Tyler, Max, Tiara, Blaze, Knack, Tails. Sonic tried to jump in and stop the attack, but it was no good. Fleetway simply swatted him away and continued knocking out his friends until, finally, only Sonic, Scourge, and Sally remained.

Sonic took a moment to catch his breath, as fighting Fleetway was again leaving him exhausted after only a few moments. "This guy's a tank!" Sonic shouted through hurried breaths.

"We should attack him in unison." Sally shouted back as Fleetway came to a stop between the three of them, almost daring them to attack.

"You don't get it, do you?" Fleetway snarled. "I'm the deadliest thing alive! You don't stand a chance against me!"

Scourge charged, taking Fleetway's challenge. He tried to slide, aiming for Fleetway's legs to trip him up. But Fleetway simply jumped into the air, just barely clearing Scourge's head.

"By the time I'm done with you there won't be anything left to bury!" He exclaimed as Scourge turned and charged him again, this time in an attempt to tackle him.

Fleetway simply held out his arm and let Scourge run into his fist at a couple hundred miles per hour, knocking Scourge to the ground and causing him to careen across the floor. He slammed into the wall to Fleetway's left and just laid there, shaking in pain.

Sally was terrified! Sonic had said that this guy was bad news, but this was far and away the worst thing she could've imagined! And, to tell the truth, she had no idea what they would do now.

Fleetway lowered his shoulder and ran into Sonic, knocking him into the wall behind him. As Sonic slid down the wall and held his chest in pain. Every breath felt like a stab in his chest on his right side where he'd taken the brunt of the impact from Fleetway.

As Sonic tried to figure out if his ribs were broken, Sally rushed over to Scourge to see if she could help him off the floor. He was on his hands and knees when she got there, panting heavily. He looked up at her and wiped the blood from his mouth.

"We need to do something to throw him off." Scourge said in a wheeze.

"But what? Sonic is doing all he can just to keep up with him." Sally said.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them as they contemplated their options. Then Scourge tried to stand up, but his legs gave out from under him. He grunted as he hit the floor, then growled in frustration.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Scourge shook his head. "I'm dizzy as heck! I can't stand right now." Scourge thought for a moment, then said: "I need some time to get my strength back. I need you to help Sonic keep Fleetway busy for a couple minutes." He held up his hands and closed his eyes to focus.

Sally just watched, waiting for something to happen. Then, strangely, green wisps of energy drifted from Scourge's hands and wrapped themselves around Sally. Suddenly, she felt an incredible amount of strength and energy come over her. She took it all in for a second, then looked back at Scourge, who was now a sickly shade of blue. Then he collapsed to the ground.

"go..." Scourge said in a nearly inaudible moan. "buy us some... time..."

Sally nodded and turned back toward Fleetway and Sonic, who were exchanging blows at an incredible speed; yet, strangely she could somehow process it as if time had slowed, though it hadn't. She took a breath as she waited for her moment, then felt a surge of energy rush through her like a bolt of lightning as she took off in a green streak toward the two hedgehogs.

She injected herself into the fight, throwing punches and kicks at Fleetway from behind him, keeping herself on the opposite side of Sonic so that they could trap Fleetway between them. She aimed one of her kicks right at Fleetway's face, then felt herself lurch backward slightly as it connected, sending Fleetway tumbling through the air over Sonic's head.

Sonic did a double take when he looked at Sally. For a moment, he'd thought that she was actually Scourge due to only being able to see the green fur. His eyes went wide when he realized it was her.

"Hey Sal? What's up with the new hair coloring?" He asked jokingly.

Sally looked at him with a confused expression written plainly on her face. That is, of course, until she realized that her fur had changed from brown to green. "Woah!" She exclaimed as she started looking up and down her own body in disbelief.

Sonic turned, leaving her to finish her 'examination' and instead tried to focus on taking out Fleetway, if such a thing was even possible.

He rushed up to Fleetway and tried to kick him in the back while he was down. As Fleetway hit the dirt, a thought crossed Sonic's mind: He wasn't going to kill Fleetway, that wasn't in him. But, if he didn't kill him, then how would they stop him?

Fleetway jumped to his feet and spat some blood out on the ground and turned around to snarl at Sonic with reddish teeth. He lunged at Sonic's chest and drove him backward into the wall, pinning him there and driving his right fist into Sonic's gut, knocking the air out of him in a whoosh. Then he continued his assault on Sonic's midsection, alternating one fist after the other.

Sally, having snapped back to reality, came up behind Fleetway to get him off of Sonic. She threw out her own right punch, but it was sloppy due to her lack of training. Fleetway caught her fist without even turning around, then twisted her arm around until it was just at its snapping point, then held it there as Sally anxiously repeated "Ow...Ow...Ow..." while she winced at the sharp pain.

He flipped her arm in the other direction, twirling her entire body through the air and slamming her down onto the ground as he fell with her. She landed on top of his left leg, which he'd slid underneath her as they'd fallen. Then he put his other leg over top of her neck and started to squeeze. She was very resilient to his attempted choking, but was nearly suffocated by the time Sonic had collected himself enough to kick Fleetway in the side of the head and knock him to the side, effectively getting him off of Sally.

She coughed as Fleetway rolled away, catching her breath and getting to her knees. She stood up with a hand on her throat in a useless attempt to ease the pain. Nevertheless, she turned toward Fleetway and put the strongest, most fearless expression on her face. She may be outmatched, but she had help!

Sonic moved up to stand beside her and crossed his arms as he too put a fearless expression on his face. He turned and looked at Sally, asking a silent question.

 _Are you ready?_

She gave him a slight nod.

 _Let's do this!_

The two dashed forward and surrounded Fleetway, Sonic on his left, Sally on his right.

Sonic threw a punch at Fleetway's head while Sally spun underneath him and kicked his legs out from under him. Sonic's punch connected, and he used the momentum to turn around put his back to Fleetway as he fell. Then he kicked up his left leg to catch Fleetway and flip him back up into the air. As Fleetway tumbled into the air, Sally met his rising form with a well-placed elbow that hit him in the gut and bent him in half, sending him back down to the ground. Sonic twirled and slid his right leg out to hit Fleetway and flip him around and land on his face instead of his back.

Sally readied her next attack but felt the energy suddenly leave her as she went from pale green to her natural medium brown again. Fleetway was laying on the ground in front of her and Sonic stared at her.

"What was that anyway?" He asked.

She opened her mouth to respond, but her words caught in her mouth when Fleetway pulled himself off of the ground and stood up shakily.

He turned and looked at Sally, ready to take his revenge, but was overrun by Scourge, who was once again green and ready to go. He hit Fleetway with a flurry of punches that crippled his opponent.

As Scourge stepped away from Fleetway, he turned toward Sally and shot her his trademark cocky smirk. "Thanks for the break sweets!"

She crossed her arms, obviously unamused.

Fleetway once again rose, but his form was flickering, turning from a solid state into something more whispy and unconcentrated. He shot the rest of them a look and dashed out through the top of the tunnel and up to the surface, then vanished in a flash.

"Well," Sally said as she heaved a sigh of relief, "I'm glad he's gone!"

Scourge clucked his tongue, making a tisk tisk sound. "That's only one thing. The other thing we need to take care of is at the end of this tunnel."

Sally looked at Scourge and asked in all sincerity: "Do you know what's at the end of it?"

He nodded. "You're not gonna like it."


	32. S2 - E13: The Tunnel's End

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 13**

"So what is at the end of this tunnel anyway?" Sally asked as she, Sonic, and Scourge made their way to the far end of the seemingly endless passage.

She took her attention away from Scourge as she sidestepped a rather large puddle of water that had formed from a broken water main, one which was sawed completely through when the tunnel was drilled however long ago.

By the time she'd raised her head and resumed her trek ever forward, Scourge was already beginning his explanation. "It's not necessarily what's at the end of the tunnel. It's what's not at the end of the tunnel." He said.

Sally thought about Scourge's comment, then asked for clarification. "What do you mean?"

He didn't answer.

They approached the end after several minutes of walking, a large opening set before them that led out to a hillside just outside of the city. Dirt and rock gave way to grassy fields and a highway off in the distance. Sally recognized it as the highway that ran from Mobitropolis to Knothole City.

"Wait a minute." Sonic said as he pointed at the highway. "I know that road. I used to use it to come into Mobitropolis every weekend. We must be about three miles south of the city limits."

Sally's face suddenly seemed to shrink in fear as she realized what this meant. "Oh no..." Her words were lost in her breath as her worry outraced her mind. "He dug a tunnel out of the city."

"Yep." Scourge said shortly.

Sally just blinked twice and continued to stare in shock. "This means that this whole time Robotnik has been moving S.W.A.T. Bots and Robians out of the city." What should've been an exclamation seemed to lose all its weight in her shocked tone.

As Sonic stepped out onto the hillside just outside of the city, he noticed something else at the bottom of the hill. There were tents set up along with other mobile buildings. There were trucks, big ones, with black colored cabs and large steel boxes behind them on trailers. A closer look at them revealed a symbol on the side of the box, a white G inside of blue circle that itself rested within a red circle. It was the symbol of the Guardian Units of Nations, or G.U.N.

After the additional shock of seeing military vehicles sitting just outside of the city had waned a bit, Sonic noted that it was actually a small operation for a military the size of the G.U.N.'s. Considering the fact that they were a global operation, it was surprising to see so few soldiers here to take back a city from a maniacal overlord.

Their gaze shifted from the distant horizon and its setting orange sun, back to the military base, then back to the horizon. As they all thought about what the future held for them now, Sonic's gaze was drawn away from the now completely submerged sunset and to a figure that was trekking up the hill toward them.

He saw a red female fox wearing a tight black t-shirt and gray shorts cropped just above her knees. She had long brown hair that fell over the left side of her face, obscuring her left eye, and tall black boots to complete the tough-girl look. When she finally stopped and had gotten the attention of the other two individuals standing next to Sonic, she spoke in a voice that was surprisingly smooth and low.

"Fiona Fox, agent for the Guardian Units of Nations. Who are you?" She asked.

Scourge spoke before anyone else could so much as take a breath. "I'm Scourge the Hedgehog, the leader of the local resistance group." He dropped his head so that he could look over the top of his sunglasses, then cocked a smirk before adding: "I'm also single."

Sally nearly gagged at the comment but was surprised to see Fiona return the smirk on her own face. She sighed and rolled her eyes before correcting Scourge's comment. "Actually, he's not."

"You sayin' that there's more than just a friendship between us Princess?" Scourge commented in what must've been the most annoying way possible.

Sally tensed and gritted her teeth, then forced out the words of her response through her incredibly tense expression. "I meant you're not the leader of the resistance you dolt."

"Right, we'll talk about this later then." Scourge said in the same cool tone he always used when he was being an idiot.

Fiona giggled before she responded. "So, I take it _you're_ the leader then?" She said to Sally.

Sally made a noticeable effort to relax herself and return to neutral. "Yes. At least, most of the time."

Fiona raised an eyebrow but didn't ask any further questions on that point. Instead, she said. "I've been assigned the task of touching base with the local resistance groups and making sure that we help in any way we can. Although, I'm afraid that G.U.N. might be a little late on that one."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

Fiona turned to look at him specifically as she replied. "Those robot things stopped coming out of this tunnel about two days ago. Everyone here has moved into position since then. We were just about to head in and see if we could get into the city when the barrier dropped a few minutes ago. Now that you're here, I guess I can just ask you... What's going on in there anyway?"

"Well," Sonic said as he held up his hands to count off things on his fingers, "it's a long story that involves robotic suits, people in computers, multiple dimensions, and a being made out of energy. And that's not even all of it."

Fiona's eyes widened a bit at the items on his list. "Well, that sounds like quite a story. Remind me to ask you again when we have more time."

"So," Sally started to ask, "where are the rest of your troops? I'd think that an occupied city would make them send in hundreds of soldiers." She paused a bit before continuing. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't look like it's more than a hundred." Her tone wasn't harsh, but curious.

Fiona dropped her head slightly at the comment. "There were more, of course, but they were stationed here before us. As the robots started marching out of the tunnel, they overran the others and took them as hostages. We sent others, but the groups that followed were all stopped in their tracks before they could even find a place to set up, and they were taken as well. We're the last group to be sent in, and we were told to simply wait for the robots to stop flowing out of the tunnel before moving into position."

"And..." Sonic said, his tone implying that he knew there was more. "What else?"

"Well..." Fiona said slowly. She started speaking slowly but picked up speed as she continued her explanation. "Last we knew, those robots that we saw had started taking over other cities in the area and destroying any local military presence. Over the last couple of days, we've been trying to contact G.U.N. Headquarters to see what's going on elsewhere and we haven't been able to get through. Due to the speed at which the robots were taking over the country, we believe that we may be one of the few squads left not captured by the bots."

"That's no good." Scourge said with a shake of his head.

Sonic nodded in agreement. "For once I agree with you." Then he turned and looked at Fiona. "If that means what I think it means then we're in trouble."

Sally nodded as well. "Big trouble." Then both she and Sonic looked at Fiona and said: "Where are we at then?" at the same time. Sally looked at Sonic out of the corner of her eye and he did the same, but they just shook their heads and made no mention of it.

"Well." Fiona said as she looked back and forth between the two of them. "We're cut off from supplies and there's not many of our troops left. The next step according to protocol is to set up a base inside of the city and operate from there until we receive further instruction from HQ."

"I have an idea about where you can stay." Sonic said as his always cheery smirk crept across his face.

"Great." Fiona said with a soft nod. "I'll tell my superior officer."

As they all turned back to the tunnel to head back into the city, Fiona spoke up from behind them. "I'll also need to stay and operate with your group to act as a liaison between the two groups."

Sonic and Sally looked at each other, having an unspoken conversation. Then Sonic turned back to Fiona and said: "Alright then. After we get G.U.N. Set up, I'll show you where Haven is."

Fiona nodded as she turned away to head back to her group. "Alright then, see you inside the city."


	33. S2 - E14: Free Hearts Pt 1

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 14**

Back in Haven, there weren't many smiling faces. After the news about what Robotnik did, moving troops out of the city through the tunnel, spread through the group, it seemed that the collective mood was at an all-time low. It turned out that Robotnik had left shortly after Mighty had come through the portal and before Sonic had made it back. So now Robotnik was out there commanding his robot forces in yet another takeover.

Blaze and her team didn't really seem to be affected by the news. If anything, they were relieved to be away from a place where even the rain wanted them dead. Scourge especially seemed to be taking it in stride, continuing to be a constant annoyance to everyone in the base.

Right now he was running his mouth around Nicole, probably hoping to impress her with his story that had been going on for the last half-hour at least.

"So I jumped over its head and used my strength to blast through the side of the building ahead of me so that I could catch my breath." He was saying. "But I knew that I didn't have long, so I waited for him to come to me."

"You can stop now." Nicole said in an attempt to silence the green windbag, but her voice was too small to make a difference. He continued undeterred. She tried to stop him again. "No, really. Please stop." She felt too awkward to put any kind of force in her voice. And yet again, it had no effect.

Tyler stepped around the corner and crossed his arms as he addressed his fellow green hedgehog. "I think you should stop before you make somebody mad."

Scourge paused his story to reply. "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to her."

Tyler took a step closer to Scourge and tried to make himself look as intimidating as possible. "Maybe," he said, "but I'm talking to you."

Scourge's smirk turned into a frown as he turned to face Tyler. "You got a problem?"

Tyler scoffed. "This is too easy! Yes, I have a problem. Say it with me..." Scourge copied Tyler's words as they left his mouth. "My problem is you."

"What's your deal anyway?" Scourge asked in an impatient tone.

Tyler cooled his tone a little but kept the serious edge in it as best he could. "You know Scourge, you think that maybe since everyone _but_ you has a problem that maybe the problem _is_ you? You drive everyone nuts because you're so full of yourself that there's no room for anybody else's input in that thick skull of yours!"

Scourge stepped up to Tyler as if to challenge and intimidate him. Tyler didn't back down even an inch. Instead, after looking Scourge eye to eye for a few seconds, he turned, back straight and head held high, and walked over to Nicole. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her away from Scourge.

He walked her into the conference room and shut the door behind them so that the quiet but constant conversational hum was cut off and the room became comfortably quiet.

Nicole stepped out from under Tyler's arm slowly and turned to face him, her arms crossed over her chest showing her obvious discomfort. But it was also obvious that she was slowly starting to decompress from the stress of dealing with Scourge. "Thanks for that." She said quietly.

He put a hand on her shoulder gently and smiled. "Anytime. He's just a jerk anyway. If he bothers you again just let me know."

She smiled a nervous smile. "You know, just because I can't handle him doesn't mean you have to get involved."

"Yes, it does." Tyler said with no hint of doubt in his voice.

"Why?" She asked.

Tyler sighed, weighing his words very carefully in his head before finally speaking. "Because I could never allow someone to hurt you Nikki."

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she listened. To be honest, she had no idea what else to do but listen.

"You mean a lot to me. And if someone hurt you, either physically or emotionally, I..." He stopped talking to swallow his nerves, then took a deep breath. "I haven't had many friends in my life since I got put in that computer so many years ago. So your friendship means more to me than anything. But, I... I think I see you as more than just a friend now."

Nicole panicked! It felt like her tongue was receding down her throat in fear while her heart came up her chest to meet it half way. And she wasn't sure, but it felt like her guts were too busy doing loop-de-loops to even give her the chance to throw up! But she didn't care. Because, in spite of all of her nervous energy that flowed through her veins like lightning, she was excited like she'd never been excited before! She lost track of her thoughts as they raced away from her and she started to move purely on instinct.

Her feet fell in time with her racing heart as she floated forward and put her hands on his shoulders. He looked at her in confusion, not knowing what she was thinking, though he didn't have to think about it for too long.

She pulled him toward her and pressed her lips to his in a kiss. It wasn't perfect, and it was quick, quicker than she wanted it to be. She pulled away quickly when she realized what she'd done, then scanned his face for a response of any kind. She was hoping that she hadn't inadvertently crossed some kind of line.

He looked at her, the blood having run completely out of his face, turning the parts of it that weren't covered in fur quite pale. But he didn't run away, nor did he chastise her for even thinking about doing something like that. Instead, he pulled his hand to his mouth and took a breath before hiding the biggest, brightest smile she'd ever seen behind his hand. His pale face suddenly went to red hot as he blushed and chuckled slightly.

She giggled herself and felt the heat rising to her own cheeks. "What are you, six?" She asked jokingly.

"I uh..." His voice was shaky and he stuttered as he continued to force out a response. "I don't know what to say Nikki."

"Then tell me what you feel." She said softly.

"I feel..." He thought about his response, but not for long. "I feel good. I've been meaning to get that off my chest for a while. Now I'm wishing I'd done it earlier."

"You and me both." She said.

Tyler kept the happy expression on his face as he started to panic slightly. What now? He knew that he liked her and that she liked him. But, other than that, what else had just changed? Did that kiss mean that the two of them were now in a relationship? Or that she was now or wanted to be his girlfriend?

His head started spinning. But he took a deep breath and tried to relax. Honestly, he was glad she kissed him. I mean, why wouldn't he be? She was beautiful, smart, and sensitive in all the right ways. He simply felt more relaxed when he was around her; happier too. He just needed to find a way to convey that to her.

He held his hand out toward her, inviting her to take it. As she grabbed it, he said: "So does this mean I get to be your boyfriend now?"

She laughed as they walked out of the room. "Of course silly."

"Great. I always wanted to be one of those." He said with a smirk.

She just laughed again as they stepped back out of the room, now ready to face whatever came their way; be it Scourge or Robotnik or alternate dimensions or whatever, together.


	34. S2 - E15: Free Hearts Pt 2

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 15**

In Haven, there is a small area towards the back that is used for training purposes. There's not much there, a handful of mannequins from a department store and a punching bag make up the little equipment this area has to offer. There's also a mat in the center of the training area that can be used for sparring sessions. Right now that mat is occupied by a rabbit with blonde hair and a mechanical suit.

"Cum on Antoine, it ain't that hard!" Bunnie said in an encouraging tone.

Antoine shook his head. "No. I am stayink right 'ere where I will be perfectly zafe!" He lifted his head and pointed his nose toward the ceiling in defiance.

Bunnie rolled her eyes and reached out with her left arm to pull him into the sparring area. "Look Antoine, theah's even a mat so y'all wont get hurt when ya fall. How bad could it be?"

Antoine gulped as he looked down. "I am not rememberink agreeing to zis." He said with a tremor in his voice.

Bunnie put her hands up and spaced her feet, right foot out front, roughly shoulder length apart. As she looked around her left ear that draped over the front of her face, she focused her gaze on Antoine and told him to mimic her position; which he did... sloppily.

Everything seemed like they were both ready to go, so Bunnie took one slow step forward. Antoine panicked. He stumbled backward for several moments before falling into the wall which was several feet behind him. He slid down it slowly until his bottom hit the ground and he subsequently 'oofed'.

He picked himself up off the ground and took a step away from the wall. As he brushed himself off he said: "I weesh to apologize. Jou are clearly more confident than moi."

Bunnie put her metallic hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side as she studied Antoine. "What ah y'all so scared of anyway?"

Antoine laughed nervously and pulled at his collar as he replied. "Hehe... I Am scared zat I will fall and be breaking ze leg. Leeterally."

She kept the puzzled expression on her face as her curiosity only deepened. "What else ah y'all scared of 'Twan?"

He looked down at his feet as he shuffled his weight from one foot to the other and then back again. "Robots, robotic people, tornados, zunder, lightening, waterre, heights, high weends, tight spaces... spidairs." His tone told Bunnie that he'd actually cut the list short. Not only that, he was rather embarrased about the legthy list of things he considered terrifying.

"That's quite the list." She said. "Why ya scared of all those things?"

"Because I can only see ze worst possebel outcome for zeez situations." He said with a sigh. "Like wiz ze spidairs. Zey are beink so gross! And what if zey bite moi? I might be alergiic to zem!" A chill went up his spine as he continued speaking, his words becoming a rambling mess as he picked up pace. "Zen ze bite swells, and zen I can't breaze becuase of ze zwelling, and zen I die of apostriphication!"

"That's asphyxiation Antoine." She paused as she thought about his words. "Does that really run through yer mahnd every tahme you see a lil' ol' spahder?"

"Oui. And zat ez just wiz ze spidairs. Do not even make me speak of ze zunderstorms!" His tone changed from one of panic to one of defeat almost on a dime. He let out a sigh. "But it is ze same for anyzing zat I see. I cannot see ze likely outcome, I can only see ze worst one. It's as if dangierre is everywhere, waiting to kiill us, and only moi can see it."

Bunnie felt her heart sink a little in sympathy for her teammate. She couldn't imagine living in Antoine's world, but she knew it must be terrible! But what could she do to help him?

"Hey Antoine." She said in a soft tone. "Things ahrn't always as bad as they seem. What kahnds of things can you see rahght now that ahrn't scary?"

"Well..." he paused as he looked around to see if he could identify anything not scary. "Ze floor is not zat scarry I guess."

"Alrahght. What else?" Bunnie was trying to encourage him to think positively.

"Ze mat on ze floor is very soft and non-dangierreous." Then he lifted his head to identify something hopefully above shoe level. "Zose chairs are bolted to ze ground, zey should be safe. And jou are non-scary."

Bunnie let out a little giggle. "Ah would hope not. Now focus on the positives and tell me how ya feel."

She could see the focus on Antoine's face as he tried to be positive for a change. "I do feel bettair." He said.

"Ya see Antoine?" She started to explain. "Fear is a state a mahnd. If y'all keep focusin' on all the negatives then yer just gonna keep feelin' down all the tahme. But, if y'all keep focusin' on what makes ya happy, then yer gonna be happier fer sure."

"But what if I get hurt?" He asked.

"Don' worry 'bout gettin' hurt sugah. Just take it slow and steady and work on yer coordination, then eventually you'll be able to do some pretty impressive stuff without hurtin' yerself." She said with just a little bit of confidence that she hoped would rub off on him.

"Mon Dieu! I had no idea that focusink on non-scary things was so effective!" He exclaimed.

She smiled. "Yeah. And it'll only get better as ya work on yer confidence more and more."

"So," He asked. "Do jou want to try zis whole 'trainink' thing again?" He stuttered a little bit as he finished. "Eh... slowly... p-please."

"Sure thing sugah." She said with a wink. "Just let me know when yer ready."

He tried to exude confidence. "But of course..." It was obviously fake, but at least he was making an attempt.

He took a deep breath and spaced his feet like Bunnie had done earlier. Then he gave her a short nod and the two of them began sparring. Slowly and weakly at first, then increasing in effort as the minutes ticked by. Soon, Antoine was exhausted and Bunnie was just starting to feel the impact of training for a half-an-hour.

"Y'all look tuckered out sugah." Bunnie said as she took slow and deep breaths. "Maybe it's time we call it a day."

"Oui." Antoine said as he gagged the air out of his lungs in a hurried and exhausted rythym.

Bunnie decided to make one last push. "Just keep workin' on bein' positive, alrahght? The more good things ya see around you, the easier it is to face the scary stuff."

"Of course." He said as he bowed to his sparring partner. "I am wishink you a good day mademoiselle."

She bowed herself, though it wasn't as graceful. "See ya later sugah."

As Antoine walked away, Bunnie noticed a red female fox watching her off to her right. It took her a moment to make the connection between this fox and the fox that Sonic had told her about after they'd come back to Haven. What was her name again?

"I'm Fiona." She commented after noticing that Bunnie was staring at her.

"Nice to meet ya. Y'all are from G.U.N. aren't ya?" Bunnie asked.

"Yes I am. Sonic must've told you about me huh?" Fiona asked.

Bunnie nodded. "Yeah. He didn't tell me much, but he did say that y'all' would be comin' soon to keep an ahye on us."

"It's not as bad as you make it sound." Fiona said as she walked over to the mat Bunnie was still standing on. "I'm mostly just here to be a liaison of sorts between you and G.U.N.." She hesitated before adding: "And to make sure that you don't get overzealous and blow up the city or something like that."

"Alrahght. Has someone shown you the ropes already?" Bunnie asked.

Fiona shook her head. "No, I actually just got here. There were some choice words directed at Scourge right as I entered. That was about two minutes ago. I just kinda stood over there waiting for someone to notice." She cocked her left brow into the air in a question. "Could you maybe show me around?"

"Sure thing girl." Bunnie said with a nod. "Just let me take this thing off first." She reached around to her back and hit a small button on what looked like some kind of metallic backpack which caused her entire robotic body to shudder and start to contract. Eventually, after all of the shiny metal limbs had retracted back into the backpack, all that was left was a slightly underweight cream colored and blonde haired rabbit in a black jacket.

"Soooo..." Fiona said as she gestured to Bunnie's backpack. "That thing comes off?"

"Of course it does." Bunnie said as she pulled the backpack off. "It's just a suit."

The confusion on Fiona's face was very evident, even to someone with no experience in trying to read expressions like Bunnie. "But you can control it, unlike the other suits that I've seen." She phrased it as a statement, but it was more of a question as to how that was possible.

Bunnie took in a breath and began to explain. "It's because of some adjustments made by Tyler. Normally the pack puts the host ta sleep when it latches on. Then it uses the body heat insahde as a fuel of some kahnd while it does whatever Robotnik wants. Tyler just turned the suit controllin' ability back on so that Ah could move it mahself."

"Interesting." She said slowly as she tried to wrap her head around it. Bunnie's terms were rather non-technical, making the explanation a little more cloudy than it otherwise would be, but she was still able to discern what was going on.

Having learned all she needed to know about the robotic suits, Fiona decided to change subjects back to being introduced to everyone. "So... where does the tour start then?"


	35. S2 - E16: Free Hearts Pt 3

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 16**

Max leaned against the corner opposite the training area and watched as Bunnie tried to teach Antoine to think positively. It was honestly a pretty good idea. As Max knew all to well, fear and paranoia were a state of mind. He let a smile cross his face, though it was shallow and breif.

The smile had faded because his thoughts started to drift back to his former tank gunner partner Purdue. The two had been good friends and often ate together and trained together. There was hardly a moment that they could be seen apart, as the two had quickly become best friends.

They never thought that they'd see any actual combat due to the relatively peaceful nature of the Acorn Kingdom and the fact that it was surrounded on all sides by the United Federation which was rather peaceful itself. So when combat finally came to the Acorn Kingdom due to Robotnik's attack it took both of them by surprise.

Purdue was always afraid that when it came time to do what they'd been trained to do that he wouldn't be ready. He was actually a rather timid individual, much like Antoine, though not to the same extent. It had taken Max months to help Purdue see things in a positive light. It was hard, but he considered it worth the effort.

By the time the call came in to mobilize the tanks and take down the Robians, both Max and Purdue were ready. Only moments after they were told to mobilize, the two of them were rolling through the city streets in the tank that they'd been extensively trained to control.

Within moments they'd found their first target, and if not for Tails, would've taken it down. But he'd yelled something. Upon finding out that there was a person inside of the suit, both of them had second thoughts. That person wouldn't know any better and would've been killed for no reason.

If only that was where the memories ended. But no, his mind kept trekking forward. In his mind's eye he could see the Robian leap atop the tank and rip open the hatch. His memory grew progessively indistinct as the Robian grabbed Purdue and smacked his head into the side of the tank, trying to rip him from the gunner's position.

Max felt nasuea come over him like a wave. He could've stopped it! He had a sidearm within reach and could've easily fired at it to get it away from his best friend. Or did he have it there? Protocol called for it just in case, but it might not have been there for a number of reasons. Did he even remember to check for it? Did he reach for it? No, he didn't, of that he was sure. Instead he hesitated. He wasn't sure that he could hit it without doing serious damage to the person inside of it. But he did instinctively try to reach for his knife, or, that's how he now remembered the scene. He was hoping to somehow scare it off. It didn't work.

Max nearly vomited as he tried to clear his memories out and move on with his life, but they wouldn't let go, even though they were essentially just a soup of those few moments all jumbled together and stuck on replay in his mind. To make it worse, every time he replayed the events, they got cloudier and cloudier due to the shock of the experience.

He was drawn back to reality by a voice. "You should've done something." It was straightforward in tone and just a little scratchy. Max recognized it immediately.

"Purdue?" He looked up to see his old friend standing in the middle of Haven and staring at him with a hard edge to his expression.

"Yeah." Purdue simply snapped to Max's side in an instant. "You could've done something, but instead you did nothing." He pointed an accusing finger at Max. "You never really were my friend were you?" He stopped speaking for a moment as if to take a breath, but no air passed through his lips. "You know, I just remembered. You told me that you thought my girlfriend was nice. You let that thing kill me so that you could get to her didn't you?"

Max snapped at his former friend. "NO! You know I wouldn't do that!" He quickly turned his head to Tails who had asked who he was talking to. Max turned his head back to where Purdue had been standing a moment ago and saw nothing but empty space.

Knowing that the stress was getting to him, Max decided not to respond to Tails question, but, rather to simply apologize, say he wasn't feeling well, and then leave Haven to take a walk in the now vacant city above.

Mighty, having seen this outburst, decided to follow Max and see if he could discern what was troubling his new teammate. He was trying to make friends with everyone in Haven anyway, so he might as well start with the one who seemed to need his help the most.

To start, Mighty simply followed the Siberian Husky through the subway, up a staircase, down a couple of streets, and into an old military base. The base had a nearly-worn-off symbol of an acorn on the side of its hollow walls.

Upon stepping inside, Mighty could see just how hollow this place really was. There were definitely boxes of equipment along with vehicles of various kinds whether they were flying, armored, or transport, here at one time. Now, all that was left was a cracked concrete floor, a ceiling with several holes in it that had let in the rain, and tread marks from both trucks and tanks.

Max was standing in the middle of the empty military base and staring at its bare walls with great interest. As Mighty continued to wait for the right moment to inject himself into Max's... whatever he was doing, he heard Max start up a conversation with someone that didn't exist.

"You know that's not true." Max said in a pained voice.

Mighty watched as Max mouthed some sort of reply softly to himself. It was then that Mighty realized, Max wasn't talking to someone, he was hallucinating. Whether the hallucination was due to mental or emotional instability, Mighty couldn't tell, but he knew that he should try to help.

"Max." All Mighty said was his name, but it was enough to get Max's attention. He walked over to Mighty and stared at him with a mildly aggressive look on his face.

"What?" Max asked. But he didn't let Mighty answer before he jumped all over him. "I came here to be alone." His tone was very sharp, but not quite exclamatory.

"I'm sorry." Mighty said as he held his hands up in defense. "I'm just making sure you're alright."

Max recoiled a little bit, noticing that he'd snapped a little too hard.

"Who were you talking to?" Mighty asked.

"Just a voice in my head." Max said with a shrug.

"Yeah, with that tone?" Mighty said with a note of sarcasm. "It's someone you lost isn't it?"

Max sighed and rubbed his eyes before he replied. "My best friend Purdue was killed when Robotnik took over. One of the Robians was trying to grab him and take him away to be put in one of those suits, but it slammed his head against the top of the tank we were in as it pulled him out. It snapped his neck and killed him instantly."

"I'm sorry." Mighty's shoulders dropped noticeably in response to the sour feelings bleeding through Max's words. "I lost someone too."

Max lifted his head and looked at Mighty inquisitively. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah. A flying squirrel named Ray was my best friend. He was killed when Fleetway first attacked us." Mighty explained. "Strangled. He was twelve. I still think about him almost all the time. Losing him doesn't seem fair." He shook his head as if to disagree with the universe.

"I guess we've both lost someone close to us huh?" Max said with a sunken expression.

"Yeah." Mighty said in a very similar low tone. "But we need to stay focused on what lies ahead and what else we still have to lose!" He put as much enthusiasm in his voice as he could. "I come from a world where even the weather is an enemy you have to contend with every day. The only people you know are the people you walk and talk with every day, the people who you skip meals for so that they don't have to go hungry. Losing things is a part of life. I learned a long time ago to not live for the things you lost, but the things you have to lose, the people around you that you still have to care for. Ray and Purdue were great people who were killed before being given the chance to live a life of some kind. It's not fair, but few things are. A lot of people are counting on us to be there when their lives are on the line and to support them when they lose someone. So that's what we need to do. We need to be there for them, and we need to be there for each other."

"Spoken like a true soldier." Max said. "You're a little bit better at controlling your emotions than me."

"That doesn't mean that I don't feel or that it isn't hard." Mighty said as he walked toward Max. "I still sometimes look around the room and wonder where Ray is only to be reminded that he was killed for no good reason. It hurts everytime. And I often blame myself for not stepping in sooner and trying to get him away from Fleetway before it was too late. But it wouldn't have done any good. More than likely, I would be dead as well. And the same goes for you too. If you'd tried to stop Purdue from being killed, what do you think the odds are that _both_ of you make it out of there alive?"

Max put his hand over the hole in his jacket where the knife had cut into him and nearly killed him. "Maybe you're right." He said as he took a deep breath and tried to keep tears from coming to his eyes. "Thanks."

Mighty smiled. "Don't worry about it dude. Just promise me that if I ever start beating myself up over Ray that you'll knock some sense into me. I'm probably gonna need it sooner or later."

Max smiled, the first one to come to his face in a while. "Sure, I guess I can do that."

"Great." Mighty said as he turned his shoulder and gestured toward the door that led back out to the street. "Why don't we head back before we both start crying?"

"Sure." Max said as he walked to the door.

Mighty knew that it wouldn't be the last time that Max would end up like this as it took more than one talk to get someone this emotional back into shape. He also knew that he wasn't at one hundred percent either, and would probably need Max's help to come back to reality. But, for now anyway, both of them were managing to keep it together. And eventually, the memories would get easier to deal with.


	36. S2 - E17: Free Hearts Pt 4

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 17**

Sonic was walking through Haven when he heard a scream of frustration come from the computer room followed by a thud. It was well muffled thanks to the modifications that they'd made to that area and so was only audible to him, though it was no doubt quite loud from inside the room itself. Also, if he wasn't mistaken, the scream sounded like it came from Sally; and it was a scream, not of fear, but of frustration.

His hand rested on the doornob as he pondered whether or not to go in and see what she was worked up about. He knew that it was very out of character for her to be this way as she usually seemed to be very well composed. No doubt it was something serious though, and so leaving her alone might not do her any good. Having made his decision, he turned the knob slowly and peeked his head inside.

Sally was sitting inside at a small desk that had been tucked into the corner. She had her face pressed flat to the top of the desk and was breathing heavily. Her red hair was messier than usual and layed over her shoulders and crept down her upper back over her blue jacket. If the scream hadn't made it clear enough, she was upset. Though over what, Sonic had no clue.

Sonic stepped into the room fully, now deciding that he was going to let this situation play itself out in the hopes that he could maybe brighten Sally's mood. "Hey Sal, you okay?" He let the concern show in his voice.

She lifted her head from the desk and whipped it over to him in both surprise and mild embarassment. She apparently hadn't heard him come in; it caught her off guard. "Hey Sonic." She said. "I... I'll be fine."

"You sure?" He asked as he sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the room from her.

She nodded yes, paused, then shook her head no. "I don't know." She said in a sigh.

He leaned forward a little. "What's up?" He was leaving it to her to tell him. This was his last question. If she deflectedthe question, he decided, he would drop it and try again some other time. However, he didn't have to worry about it.

She started to explain. "It's Robotnik." She took in a deep breath and continued. "I thought that when we took down the barrier that we'd finally achieved some sort of victory. Now we could get out of the city, military forces could get in, and we could get supplies if we decided to stay. Instead, he's already left the city and all we did was take down a handful of his several thousands of S.W.A.T. Bots, essentially nothing. Not only that, but the man who killed my father is now out there hurting who knows how many people and destroying their lives like he destroyed ours."

She held her hands up in the air in mock surrender. "It doesn't matter what I do, I can't win! Every way I look at this situation, all I see is a losing scenario. It's like no matter what I do he's three steps ahead of me! Now, all I can think of is the fact that eventually he'll be back to finish us off. How long until he returns and kills us all?"

Sonic wasn't sure how to respond, so he just said the first thing that came to mind. "You know, you're right. That sounds terrible. But you're forgetting something."

Sally cocked her head to the side inquisitively. "What's that?"

"Simple." He said as he leaned back in the chair. "We've actually won three times. And if you look at it a certain way, we've never even lost. I mean, we destroyed his factory, rescued Bunnie, and have taken down the barrier to let G.U.N. Into the city. Now we're sitting here unharmed and actually ahead of where we started. He just expanded the scale of the fight a little. We've beat him before and we'll just beat him again and again until we win the war."

"Well, I guess you're right, but there's something that you don't know." She said as she settled down a little herself. "I bumped into Bunnie and Fiona earler and Fiona told me that her commanding officer offered anyone who wants out of Mobitropolis a way out via helicopter. She said he was offering a one-way trip to Spagonia to get us away from the war. I'm not going to insist that anyone stay and fight if they don't want to. And I have to think that at least some of them will take the offer when I present it later. We're already short handed as it is, losing anybody would be a serious blow, both to strength and morale."

Sonic thought to comment on how she had started thinking so much like a team leader, but something else took precedence in his mind. "You're not planining on leaving are you?"

She shook her head firmly. "No. This is my city and I'm the only remaining member of the royal family. It's my responsibility to see anyone who stays here through to the end, win or lose." She paused for a moment, then asked: "You're going to leave though, aren't you? You seem like someone who doesn't like being tied down."

"Well." Sonic replied. "You're right about me not liking being tied down. That's never been my thing. But you're wrong about me leaving. I'm not going anywhere!" He let his trademark smirk cross his face. "I'm kinda like a barnacle; stuck to this ship, sink or sail." Then he looked down and away as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe that wasn't the best analogy."

"But, if you don't want to stay, then why stay." She asked.

"I'll go stir crazy, but I want to stay." He jerked his head to the side as he shifted the thoughts around in his mind. "No, check that, I _need_ to stay. Much like you I have a duty to my friends. That, and I made a promise."

That last comment caught Sally's interest. "What do you mean you made a promise?"

Much like he did when he told Sally about her parent's death, he decided to just tell her the truth and hope for the best. Taking a deep breath, he started to explain. "I was at the palace when Robotnik killed your parents. I talked to them right before he got there. Your dad asked me if I could go and find you to make sure that you were safe. A moment later, the wall was blown wide open and Robotnik strode in with a bomb that buried your parents. I checked them for a pulse, but they were both dead. So, as it was your father's last wish, I promised him that I would keep you safe no matter what. Suffice it to say that even if everyone else leaves, I'm not going anywhere!"

Sally wasn't really sure how she felt about that. It was a little weird but also kind of sweet in an odd way. At the very least, she knew that Sonic had her best interests at heart and that he could be trusted to come through for her. "Thank you." Was all that she managed to say in response, though her feelings were much more complicated.

Sonic gave her a thumbs up, glad to see that she didn't think his promise was weird. "Don't mention it Sal. Just let me know if you ever need help."

She waited a moment, then changed the subject. "So how many do you think will take the offer to leave?" She asked.

Sonic thought about it for a moment. "One."

"Really. Just one?" She asked surprised.

"Yep... Antoine." He said. "I think he'll take the opportunity to get out of this stressful situation, even if nobody else does. Can't blame him."

"No, you're right." She said. "But I kinda figured that other people would take the offer too. I mean, Knuckles has some kind of duty, Max is a soldier, but what about the other..." She struggled to find the word she was looking for, "more civilian side of the spectrum? Like Rotor, or Tyler and Nicole."

"They may not have as easily identifiable reasons for staying. But, you have to remember, everyone here in Haven is not just a group of individuals living together because they have no choice, they are here because they are friends who've learned to look out for each other. Nobody here, not even Scourge if you can believe it, would abandon everyone else. Antoine wouldn't want to leave either, I just think that he might make that decision under too much stress." Sonic said.

"Yeah, I could see that." She replied. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"Just watch," He said with confidence, "I think you'll be surprised."

"Yeah. I can hope." She said, her tone implying that she wasn't so sure. "Anyways, can you do me a favor?"

"What's that?" He asked as he stood up and waited for her response.

"Can you go and tell everybody that I want to make an announcement today at five P.M.?" She asked. "That's when I'm going to tell them about the offer to leave."

"Yeah, sure." He said with a short nod. Then, after realizing the conversation was over he turned to leave and said: "Later Sal. Try not to get too down on yourself while I'm gone, okay?"


	37. S2 - E18: To Stay or to Go

**Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 18**

"Thank's for coming everybody." Sally said as she gestured to the crowd of people gathered in the rather packed conference room. It was surprising to her just how much they'd grown. First Nicole, then Tyler, then Scourge, then the rest of Blaze's team, then, last but not least, Fiona... sort of. She was still working directly for G.U.N., but she was here to stay and help out. All Sally could think when it came to Fiona was thank goodness she didn't come in and try to take over the team, that would've been disasterous!

"What's this about anyway?" Scourge asked from the back of the room.

"It's something that Fiona told me after she got here." She explained. "Her commanding officer has offered anyone who wants it a ride out of Mobitropolis on a helicopter that will take you straight to the G.U.N. Base in Spagonia. Once you get there, you'll be able to find transportation to any part of the country to continue living your life away from the war against Robotnik that G.U.N. And the United Federation are currently waging."

Fiona helped to clarify a little bit. "The chopper is leaving tomorrow at noon. If you decide to take the offer, then you have until then to let me know and to pack up your things so that you're ready to go."

"Before you let her know one way or the other," Sally continued, "know that you dont' _have_ to take the offer. You can stay here and keep up the fight against Robotnik and his robotic army. But it will be much safer in Spagonia, away from the fight. There's no telling what could happen here, and your staying doesn't guaruntee victory for us." She paused for a moment to let everything sink in. "You don't have to answer now. Like Fiona said, you have until tomorrow at noon. However, if you do decide to leave, I would like to know as well so that I can say goodbye personally."

Sonic up from behind Sally to stand next to her. "I've already told the Princess that I've decided to stay, even if I'm the only one. But," he put special emphasis on his next words, "If you do decide to go, nobody will think less of you. It's probably the smarter thing to do. But I've decided to stay for personal reasons, and you should try to make the decision that's best for you."

"Thank you." Sally said. Then she turned back to the group. "If anyone has made up their mind they are free to speak up now. Otherwise there's nothing else to discuss."

Knuckles raised his hand without any hesitation. "I'm staying. I have some unfinished business to take care of."

Max didn't raise his hand, but he spoke up just the same. "I'm staying too. I may not exactly be thrilled with the idea, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I left."

Then, surprisingly, chest puffed out, left hand behind his back and right hand pointing upwards as if to indicate the following statement was of great importance, Antoine spoke up. "I will be stayink as well. Robotniik will not be makink moi ze coward!"

Everyone looked at Antoine in shock. Scourge blinked twice and huffed. "Well I guess I'm stayin' too. No way I'm gonna be shown up by a spineless coyote!"

Tails was next. "I'm staying too."

Tyler spoke up from the back of the room towards the door. "I'm staying so I can help any way I can."

Then Nicole from right beside Tyler. "I'm staying as well."

Blaze, Mighty and Knack all nodded silently to each other, then Blaze said: "We've decided to stay as well."

Then Bunnie spoke up from a few feet to Sally's right. "Ah'm stayin' too Sally-girl."

Rotor raised his hand. "I guess I could stay and help, even if it was just in a non-combat capacity."

And now all that was left was Tiara. She looked at Sally and thought about it, then she said: "I'm staying too. I always help my friends."

Sally raised her hands in the air as if she didn't know what to do. "Well... I guess that settles that."

Fiona raised an eyebrow. "I'll call the commander and tell him to cancel the chopper then."

"Okay then." Sonic said as he put his hands on the table. "So now what are we going to do about Robotnik?"

* * *

"What are we looking for sir?" Snively asked from Robotnik's side as they walked deeper into the G.U.N. Base.

"Another project that I discovered a long time ago when I worked for the military.A weapon that I can use to ensure that nobody stands in my way." He said with a low but confident tone.

They stopped in front of a large door. It was very old, mildew had collected on the grey metal and a musty smell came from beyond the door. Cobwebs lined the walls on both sides, and the control panel on the door looked at least thirty years old. Right in the middle of the door was the G.U.N. Symbol in all of its blue and red glory. The whole scenario made it seem as though even the military didn't want what was beyond the door.

"Open it." Robotnik ordered the S.W.A.T. Bots on either side of him.

They walked over to the door and simply pried it open like it was a can of pickled olives. Robotnik and Snively walked in behind the two robots and looked into the cloud of dust to see a blue glow on the far side of the room.

"What is it sir?" Snively asked with a quiver in his voice.

"The ultimate weapon." He replied with an evil smile.

 _(END OF SEASON 2)_

 **Author's Note: Well, here we are. The end of Season 2! I want to thank everyone again for all of the reviews that you've given. They mean a lot to me and I look forward to each and every one. Before I check out of here, one more thing. I've started writing some other series. There's a list of all of the series I am currently writing or am planning on writing on my profile page. If you have one you'd like to see first, then please check the list and send me a PM to let me know which one you'd like to see. Otherwise, I'll see you here again soon. Later.**


End file.
